#Augusta Braxton Baker
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Milestone Monday
The King's Hares, from Norway
The Princess with the Twelve Pair of Golden Shoes, from Denmark
Queen Crane, from Sweden
The Rooster, the Hand Mill and the Swarm of Hornets, from Sweden
Ti-Tirit-Ti, from Italy
The Adventures of Bona and Nello, from Italy
The Hedgehog Who Became a Prince, from Poland
The Flight, from Poland
April 1st is the birthday of American librarian and storyteller Augusta Braxton Baker (1911-1998). Born to two schoolteachers in Baltimore, Baker was a voracious student who read at a young age and careened through elementary and high school. With advocacy support from Eleanor Roosevelt, Baker was admitted to the Albany Teacher’s College and in 1934 earned a B. A. in Education and a B. S. in Library Science making her the first African American to earn a librarianship degree from the college.
In 1939, Baker went on to work as the children’s librarian at New York Public Library’s Harlem branch, founding the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Children’s Books to showcase representation of Black children and life in books, and beginning a lifelong career with children’s literature and the New York Public Library (NYPL). In 1953, she was appointed Storytelling Specialist and Assistant Coordinator of Children’s Services, quickly moving into the Coordinator of Children’s Services position years later and becoming the first African American to hold an administrative position with NYPL. Throughout her career, Baker was active with the American Library Association, and chaired committees for the Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal recognizing excellence in children’s literature.
In celebration of Baker’s birthday, we’re sharing The Golden Lynx and Other Tales, a collection of international folk tales compiled by Baker and illustrated by Austrian artist Johannes Troyer (1902-1969). This is the first edition of the book published in 1960 by J. B. Lippincott and is signed by Baker, who writes in the introduction, “No story has been included in this collection that has not stood the supreme test of the children’s interest and approval”.
Read other Milestone Monday posts here!
View more posts on children's books here.
– Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern
#Augusta Braxton Baker#Milestone Monday#The Golden Lynx and Other Tales#Johannes Troyer#J.B. Lippincott#New York Public Library#American Library Association#Newberry Medal#Caldecott Medal#Historical Curriculum Collection#birthdays
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The words “radical” and “revolutionary” aren’t usually associated with librarians, but this is New York, after all.
And the women who shaped the New York Public Library, one of the nation’s most vital information repositories, and made it the center of research and learning that it is today, certainly qualify.
Behind the scenes they have toiled for decades, building the institution from the ground up.
There was founding curator Genevieve “Gegi” Oswald, who insisted that dance was a legitimate field of academic study.
There was Pura Belpré, the first Puerto Rican librarian, who stockpiled Spanish-language books and advocated for bilingual story hours.
And there was Augusta Braxton Baker, who led the effort to collect children’s literature that positively portrayed people of color.
“These trailblazing librarians, who overcame tremendous challenges and fought relentless adversity, were all central in making us what we are today,” said New York Public Library President Anthony Marx. “We all owe them our deepest gratitude and appreciation, from the many librarians who broke barriers and fought for change in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s, to those who built collections that will serve researchers for generations to come.”
To commemorate Women’s History Month, which starts Monday, the library is honoring 20 female librarians who shaped and directed the iconic institution.
Hardly bookworms, these women were at the forefront of change and innovation, despite working in a male-led institution.
On their own, they assembled book collections and hosted programs to meet the educational and recreational needs of the neighborhoods. They sponsored clubs for lovers of great books, history students, Yiddish mothers, theater fans, and many others.
“The women who worked for the New York Public Library were a remarkable group,” said library archivist Bob Sink, who is turning a blog he writes about the librarians into a book.
“They wanted to live independent lives in the nation’s cultural capital and to pursue a career that would improve people’s lives. Librarianship provided that satisfaction. Whether they grew up in New York City or moved here from across the country, they embraced the challenge of working in the city’s diverse neighborhoods.”
Among the women spotlighted is Regina Andrews, the first Black librarian to lead a branch. She began her library career in 1923 at Manhattan’s W. 135th St. location, which put her in the center of the Harlem Renaissance. Andrews brought prominent speakers to the branch, and helped writers like Langston Hughes work at the library.
Jean Blackwell Hutson was chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from 1948 to 1980. She began her library career in 1936, serving as a librarian at various locations. During her tenure, Hutson grew the Schomburg’s collection from 15,000 to 75,000 volumes, including the archive of her friend Hughes. The library’s research and reference division now bears her name.
***
Photo: Augusta Braxton Baker (r.) led an effort to ensure children’s literature positively portrayed people of color. (NYPL)
Text by Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, March 1, 2021
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Augusta Braxton Baker 🖤⭐️
Black Librarian. Book collector. Storyteller. Writer. Educator. Black Child Advocate
Venerated ancestor. spirit guide and muse🖤🤩🎉
Born in Baltimore in 1911, passed away at the tender age of 86 in 1998.
Served as the Children’s Librarian for the Countee Cullen Branch in Harlem for decades, revamped and recreated a new collection of children’s books that affirmed and nurtured Black children. She dealt with much pushback and resistance against her thoughts and ideas but still pushed writers, illustrators and publishers to create books to usher in a new era of books for the Black child.
She went on to publish an extensive bibliography of titles relating to the Black experience, now known as THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS, first published in 1946. She also co-wrote a book called STORYTELLING: ART AND TECHNIQUE, published in 1987.
Her legacy continues through the Augusta Baker Collection of children’s literature and folklore at the University of South Carolina, this collection contains over 1600 children’s books as well as materials from her personal library, papers, illustrations and anthologies of folktales Baker used during her career.
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Her Story: Augusta Baker
Her Story: Augusta Baker
Augusta Braxton Baker was a trailblazing Black librarian, author and storyteller. She made history in 1961 when she became the first African American woman to hold an administrative position with the New York Public Library where she oversaw all 82 branches. She was a pioneering advocate of the positive portrayal of Black people in children’s literature.
In 1937 Baker began working as a…
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Mujeres que construyeron la NYPL
Augusta Braxton Baker les lee a los escolares.
Meet the badass librarians of the NYPL. Por Mackenzie Dawson. 13 de marzo de 2021 | 12:38 pm
Ya sabíamos que las bibliotecarias eran impulsoras y agitadoras, pero este marzo, en honor al Mes de la Historia de la Mujer, la Biblioteca Pública de Nueva York rendirá homenaje a algunas de las mujeres más notables que ayudaron a dar forma a la…
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#blacklibrarianship / #theblerdandthebeautiful #Repost @nypl ・・・ #AugustaBraxtonBaker was the first African American #librarian in an administrative position at #NYPL and a champion of diversity in children’s books. Baker began her career at The #NewYorkPublicLibrary’s #135thStreetBranch (now NYPL's #CounteeCullenbranch) in 1937 as a children's librarian. There, Baker led the effort to collect children's literature that positively portrayed people of color. In 1953, Baker was appointed Assistant Coordinator for Children’s Services, making her the first African American librarian in an administrative position at The New York Public Library. For 125 years, NYPL librarians have fought and served to make their profession, our institution, and our city better. This #WomensHistoryMonth, we’re taking a look back at women librarians who changed NYPL—and librarianship—forever. Visit @nypl's #linkinbio to learn more about Augusta Braxton Baker and the #WomenWhoBuiltNYPL. https://www.instagram.com/p/CMISNdkBNYz/?igshid=1oa99saz6ljsb
#blacklibrarianship#theblerdandthebeautiful#repost#augustabraxtonbaker#librarian#nypl#newyorkpubliclibrary#135thstreetbranch#counteecullenbranch#womenshistorymonth#linkinbio#womenwhobuiltnypl
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