The Future Children’s Librarian – According to Louise Seaman Bechtel

As the 2025 Bechtel fellow, even though I was spending my summer studying the papers of Margaret Sidney, I felt that I owed it to Louise Seaman Bechtel to spend a few hours playing around in some of her nine archival boxes housed at the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature in Gainesville, Florida. I started by requesting box 2, mostly randomly, but because it also promised to hold speeches and photographs. The first couple folders were stuffed with photographs–a LOT of headshots of Louise herself, but also family photos, photos of her parents, and, of course, a photo of her dog, Mr. Winkle. Each folder of box 2 was stuffed with typewritten papers, handwritten tomes about children’s literature, and Horn Book articles. Box 7 offered a special treat though, one that left me, someone who loves commemorative events, reading every single page. In 1950, at the ALA convention in…
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