Lena de Grummond

Julia Lena Young de Grummond was a librarian and educator whose dedication to children’s literature led to the creation of the renowned de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. Through her scholarship, vision, and extensive correspondence with authors and illustrators, she preserved the creative history of children’s books and inspired future generations of readers and educators.

Lena de Grummond was born on 7 April 1900 in Centerville, Louisiana, to William J. and Amy Etienne Young, and was one of nine children. She married William White de Grummond prior to attending college at Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), where she earned her first undergraduate degree in 1929. Five years later, in 1934, she gave birth to their only son, William White “Bill” de Grummond III. That same year, her husband died by drowning.

Following William’s death, de Grummond returned to school and earned a second bachelor’s degree in 1937 in library science. It would be this degree that would set de Grummond on her path: She began her career as a staff member of the Louisiana State Library. Then, from 1950 to 1965, she served as the state supervisor of school libraries for the Louisiana State Department of Education. During her tenure as state supervisor, she re-enrolled at LSU and earned her doctorate in library science, graduating in 1956, the same year that her son received his bachelor’s degree.

In 1965, at the age of sixty-five, de Grummond began her second career as a professor of library science in Hattiesburg at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). She taught children’s literature and, as part of enrichment for her students, wanted to share primary materials submitted from authors and illustrators, such as manuscripts, dummies, sketches, galleys, and correspondence. To collect these materials, she undertook an extensive letter-writing campaign, typing hundreds of letters a week at times and reaching out to both famous and not-so-famous children’s book authors and illustrators all over the world. In her letter, she noted that their materials would be available to all librarians and teachers, and “through them, the children—all children of Mississippi.”

Her successful epistolary efforts brought incredible gifts to the university. The first author-illustrator couple to respond was Berta and Elmer Hader, authors of the Caldecott-winning book The Big Snow; followed by Garth Williams, illustrator of E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little; H. A. and Margret Rey, authors and illustrators of Curious George, as well as Lois Lenski and Madeline L’Engle. In fact, today the de Grummond Collection is the primary repository for all materials related to the Reys, Ezra Jack Keats, Kate Greenaway, and Tasha Tudor.

Since de Grummond established the collection in 1966, it has grown exponentially. Today the collection houses works by more than 1,300 authors and illustrators. These original materials are supplemented by a book collection of more than 180,000 volumes of historical and contemporary children’s literature dating from 1530. These include fables, fairy tales, folklore, alphabet books, nursery rhymes, textbooks, religious books, moral tales, fantasy, fiction, primers, and children’s magazines. Complementing these holdings are scholarly studies, biographies, bibliographies, and critical works.

In 1966, not all writers and illustrators were eager to send their materials to Hattiesburg. They were concerned by what was happening in Mississippi during this time: the assassination of Medgar Evers, the denial of admission to Black students applying at both the University of Mississippi and de Grummond’s own USM; and the murders of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County. In her responses to letters expressing concern, de Grummond reassured them that their materials would be readily available to everyone and, pacified, they responded in kind, generously sending contributions for de Grummond’s burgeoning collection. One of the most remarkable aspects of the de Grummond Collection is the letters themselves—how, after the initial request, genuine friendships developed between de Grummond and many of her contributors. The resulting correspondence is often warm, friendly, and personal.

De Grummond retired from USM in 1970 but never stopped working on behalf of the collection. That same year, she learned that the collection would officially be known as the Lena Y. de Grummond Collection. De Grummond’s legacy lives on with the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival held annually on the USM campus. It is at this festival that two major awards in children’s literature are bestowed: the USM Medallion, which recognizes an author or illustrator whose work has made a lasting impact on children’s literature, and the Ezra Jack Keats Award, established by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation for outstanding children’s books that reflect the multicultural nature of the world and the universal qualities of childhood.