Anne Thaxter Eaton (May 8, 1881 – May 5, 1971) was an American author, book reviewer and children's librarian. She served as a children's book reviewer at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

Biography

Born on May 8, 1881, in

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly incl ...

, Anne Thaxter Eaton was the daughter of Charles Henry and his wife Jane M. Eaton. She grew up in New York. She received a B.A. from

Smith College Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's c ...

in Massachusetts in the early 1900s. In 1906 she graduated with a bachelor's degree in library science from

New York State Library School at Albany The New York State Library School was a school of library science. Melvil Dewey Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an influential American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal sy ...

. After twenty years, in 1926, she also obtained a master's degree from the same school. After graduation, in 1906, she started her professional career as a librarian at the Pruyn Library in Albany. Between 1910 and 1917, she served as an assistant librarian at the library of the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state ...

. She later returned to New York to become the librarian of the newly founded Lincoln School of the Teachers' College at New York's

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, and continued until her retirement in 1946. In 1932 Eaton became a children's book reviewer at ''The New York Times'', where a children's book review page was fortnightly published since 1930. From 1935 to 1946, she served as the co-editor of the children's department of ''The New York Times'' along with its own staff Ellen Lewis Buell. She also served as a volunteer in St. Luke's School Library for a period of more than two decades. In 1946, she retired from ''The New York Times''. She died on May 5, 1971, in New York.

Publications

Besides her extensive review of children's books, Eaton wrote a number of textbooks and articles. She also compiled reading lists and anthologies. Some of her publications include *''On Reading Aloud'' (1923) *''Reading without Boundaries’’ (1956) *''Reading with Children'' (1940) *''Treasure for the Taking: A Book List for Boys and Girls'' (1956) *''The Animals’ Christmas: Poems, Carols, and Stories'' (1944) *''Welcome Christmas!: A Garland of Poems'' (1955).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Anne Thaxter 1881 births 1971 deaths American librarians American Library Association people American women academics New York State Library School alumni Smith College alumni