Author Cornelia Meigs: Iowa Time Machine September 10, 1973

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 10, 1973, Cornelia Lynde Meigs passed away. Her 1934 Newbery Medal for Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women made her the first author to win the award for a biography, securing her place among the major interpreters of history for young readers.

Meigs was born in Rock Island, Illinois, on December 6, 1884, and arrived in Keokuk as an infant when her parents, Montgomery Meigs and Grace Lynde Meigs, moved there. Keokuk, perched at the confluence of the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers, offered a setting that encouraged observation and storytelling. Meigs attended Keokuk schools before graduating from Bryn Mawr College in 1908. She returned to Iowa to teach English at St. Katharine’s School in Davenport, where she taught for 18 years. The stories she told her students helped inspire her first children’s book, The Kingdom of the Winding Road, published in 1915.

By the time of her death in 1973, Meigs had spent nearly six decades writing for young audiences and studying the field of children’s literature. Her most celebrated book, Invincible Louisa, appeared in 1933 and traced the life of Little Women author Louisa May Alcott. The American Library Association awarded Meigs the 1934 Newbery Medal for the book, recognizing the year’s most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Meigs had already earned Newbery Honor recognition for Windy Hill in 1921, Clearing Weather in 1928, and Swift Rivers in 1933. Her career extended beyond fiction and biography: she taught at Bryn Mawr, became a recognized scholar and critic of children’s books, and wrote historical works that helped define the serious study of literature for young people. #Iowa #OTD #History #Writing #Literature