Elizabeth Chesley Baity (March 5, 1907 – October 7, 1989) was an American academic and children's author. Her book ''

Americans Before Columbus ''Americans Before Columbus '' by Elizabeth Baity is a children's literature, children's book about the history of Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian cultures in America illustrated by Charles Buckles Falls, C. B. Falls. It was published in 1951 and ...

'' was a

Newbery Honor The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

recipient in 1952.

Biography

Elizabeth Chesley was born in Hamilton, Texas, where she grew up and attended school. She attended Texas University for Women. In 1930, she married Herman Baity. Baity taught at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

. She was a noted researcher and author in the field of

archaeoastronomy Archaeoastronomy (also spelled archeoastronomy) is the interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role the sky played in their cultur ...

. ''Americans Before Columbus,'' an overview of the subject for children, was published in 1951, and was named a

book the following year. A further volume, ''America Before Man'', came out in 1953, and appeared on the "Best Books of the Year" list produced by ''

The Horn Book Magazine ''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietors of t ...

''. Baity died in 1989, at the age of 82.

References

1907 births 1989 deaths American children's writers Newbery Honor winners American women children's writers 20th-century American women writers People from Hamilton, Texas {{US-child-writer-stub