JOURNAL OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF QUAKERS IN THE ARTS
Issue #25 Spring 2002
Clerks Column
NOTE: there are a few recent Quaker-oriented stories: Standing in the Light; Addy; but done by non-Quakes, formulaic, and uninformed..
Mabel Leigh Hunt Was children's and branch librarian at the Indianapolis Public Library, 1926-38. Lived 1892-1971.
A Newbery Award 1952
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Family: Born November 1, 1892, in Coatesville, IN; died September 3, 1971;
daughter of Tighlman (a physician) and Amanda (Harvey) Hunt. Education: Studied
at DePauw University, 1910-12, Western Reserve University Library School,
1923-24. Politics: Republican. Religion: Quaker. Avocational Interests: Travel,
reading, driving, cooking. Memberships: Altrusa International, Alpha Phi,
Theta Sigma Phi. New York Herald Tribune honor award for Billy Button's Butter'd
Biscuit, 1941, and The Peddler's Clock, 1943; second runner-up for Newbery
Medal, 1943, for "Have You Seen Tom Thumb?"; runner-up for Newbery
Medal, 1951, for Better Known as Johnny Appleseed; Indiana Author's Day awards
of Indiana University Writers Conference for Stars for Cristy, 1957, and Cupola
House, 1962.
Source: Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2000.
An author whose books appeal chiefly to pre-teenage girls, Mabel Leigh Hunt drew on her Quaker upbringing for several of her stories. Lucinda, her first book, the story of an Indiana Quaker child during the Civil War, has been praised for its well-chiseled prose and for the author's power to evoke the feeling of the Indiana countryside. A second book about a Quaker child, Little Girl with Seven Names has retained its popularity, dealing as it does with a perennial childhood problem, the child who is teased in school because she is different. In Melissa-Louisa-Amanda-Miranda-Cynthia-Jane-Farlow's case, it is not her Quaker upbringing which brings her ridicule from her schoolmates, but her excessively long name. The ingenious way in which Melissa Louisa manages to rid herself of a couple of her forenames is the main thrust of the slim plot of this warm little book.
Publications for Children
Fiction
Lucinda, A Little Girl of 1860, illustrated by Cameron Wright. New
York, Stokes, 1934.
The Boy Who Had No Birthday, illustrated by Cameron Wright. New York,
Stokes, 1935.
Little Girl with Seven Names, illustrated by Grace Paull. New York,
Stokes, 1936.
Susan, Beware!, illustrated by Mildred Boyle. New York, Stokes, 1937.
Benjie's Hat, illustrated by Grace Paull. New York, Stokes, 1938.
Little Grey Gown, illustrated by Ilse Bischoff. New York, Stokes,
1939.
Michel's Island, illustrated by Kate Seredy. New York, Stokes, 1940.
John of Pudding Lane, illustrated by Clotilde Funk. New York, Stokes,
1941.
Billy Button's Butter'd Biscuit, illustrated by Katherine Milhous.
New York, Stokes, 1941; London, Standard Art Book Company, 1943.
Corn-Belt Billy, illustrated by Kurt Wiese. New York, Grosset and
Dunlap, 1942.
Peter Piper's Pickled Peppers, illustrated by Katherine Milhous.
New York, Stokes, 1942; London, Standard Art Book Company, 1943.
The Peddler's Clock, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones. New York,
Grosset and Dunlap, 1943.
Young Man of the House, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. Philadelphia,
Lippincott, 1944.
Sibby Botherbox, illustrated by Marjory Collison. Philadelphia, Lippincott,
1945.
Such a Kind World, illustrated by Edna Potter. New York, Grosset
and Dunlap, 1947.
The Double Birthday Present, illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell. Philadelphia,
Lippincott, 1947.
Matilda's Buttons, illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell. Philadelphia,
Lippincott, 1948.
The Wonderful Baker, illustrated by Grace Paull. Philadelphia, Lippincott,
1950.
The 69th Grandchild, illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell. Philadelphia,
Lippincott, 1951.
Ladycake Farm, illustrated by Clotilde Funk. Philadelphia, Lippincott,
1952.
Singing among Strangers, illustrated by Irene Gibian. Philadelphia,
Lippincott, 1954.
Miss Jellytot's Visit, illustrated by Velma Ilsley. Philadelphia,
Lippincott, 1955.
Stars for Cristy, illustrated by Velma Ilsley. Philadelphia, Lippincott,
1956; London, Blackie, 1958.
Cristy at Skippinghills, illustrated by Velma Ilsley. Philadelphia,
Lippincott, 1958; London, Blackie, 1960.
Cupola House, illustrated by Nora S. Unwin. Philadelphia, Lippincott,
1961.
Johnny-Up and Johnny-Down, illustrated by Harold Berson. Philadelphia,
Lippincott, 1962.
Beggar's Daughter. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1963.
Other
"Have You Seen Tom Thumb?" (biography of Charles Sherwood
Stratton), illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg. New York, Stokes, 1942.
Better Known as Johnny Appleseed, illustrated by James Daugherty.
Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1950.
Tomorrow Will Be Bright (reader), illustrated by Tommy Shoemaker.
Boston, Ginn, 1958.
Manuscript Collections
Kerlan Collection, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
SOURCE: St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th ed. St. James Press,
1999. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The
Gale Group. 2001. (www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC)
----------------------------
Caroline Dale Snedeker (1871-1956) grew up in New Harmony, Indiana, founded
as a utopian community by her great-grandfather Robert Owen. She wrote a series
of children's books, many of them set in Greco-Roman antiquity, which clearly
reflect her liberal political sympathies.. . .
05/2002
Types & Shadows is published quarterly by the Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts. Subscriptions are available through membership in the FQA.
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This page added February 2005