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Lois Lenski Collection


Lois Lenski at her drawing table CONTENTS: 16 grey archives boxes; (13 linear ft.) 1 unnumbered wooden box of toys; 5 flat storage boxes.

ACQUISITION: Gift of the author, 1958 to 1968. Additional original illustrations given by Lenski's son, Steven Covey, in 1993 and 1995.  One original illustration purchased by the Library in 2001. Box of toys designed by Lois Lenski given by her son, Steven Covey, in 2003.

DESCRIPTION: Born October 14, 1893, in Springfield, Ohio. Educated at Ohio State University where she earned a B.S. in Education in 1915. She married Arthur Covey, a mural painter, in 1921. Lenski achieved acclaim as both an artist and author. In addition to illustrating her own works, she illustrated 57 children's books written by other authors. In 1946, she won the Newbery Medal for Strawberry Girl, and in the following year she received the Child Study Association Award for Judy's Journey. In 1962, she received an honorary L.H.D. from UNCG. Lois Lenski lived in Connecticut until failing health forced her to move permanently to a warmer climate. She died September 14, 1974, at her home in Tarpon Springs, Florida. A letter of September 4, 1958 in the Librarian's papers reveals why she chose Jackson Library as a depository, and what her aims for the collections are.

Go to:
Box Listing
Portfolio Box Listing
Calendar of Correspondence about Lois Lenski's collection of early American children's books

Requests for information about the collections should be directed to:
This material may not be reproduced/republished in any format without the expressed permission of Walter Clinton Jackson Library of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Other Lois Lenski Collections on the Internet:

Center for Archival Collections Once Upon a Time in Ohio Radio Scripts
Stapelton Library
William Allen White Library

This page maintained by Carolyn Shankle.
Updated September 2, 2003..