Eileen Colwell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eileen Colwell (b. 1904 - d. 2002) was a Pioneer Children’s Librarian.
Born in Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire, Colwell was the third daughter of a Methodist Minister. She obtained a scholarship and studied librarianship at University College. She had become interested in the idea of a children’s library at an early age but found that the course (then the only one of its kind in the country) did not cover the subject.
In 1926 she moved to Hendon to fill the new post of Children’s Librarian, and there built the children’s collection (2,000 volumes) from scratch. She pioneered the use of story telling hours (sometimes with a puppet called Jacko), and even let the children help with the running of the library. In 1965 Eileen was made an MBE and in 1967 she left Hendon, and for a while lectured at Loughborough University.
Her Books include:
- Autobiography, Once Upon A Time (2000)
- Princess Splendour And Other Stories (1969)
- The Magic Umbrella And Other Stories Of Telling (1977)
