Life and work
Felleman began working at the ''New York Times'' in 1905, as a teenager. She started in the Times Tower Building for $10 a week, dusting books. She then progressed to the position of secretary to the editor of ''The Book Review'', until 1944. Alongside her secretarial role, she edited Notes and Queries at the newspaper from 1922. In 1943 she took on this editorial role full time. She was often asked to track down obscure lines from forgotten poems. She used her scores of reference books and her detective skills to winkle out the answers and publish them. "She gained reputation as an obscure‐rhyme detective" and in 1936 published her first anthology of poems. ''The Best Loved Poems of the American People'' was printed by Doubleday in the middle of the"In the compilation of this book I have drawn on my experience as editor of the Queries and Answers page of the ''New York Times Book Review'' over a period of fifteen years. The majority of inquiries that I receive are for favorite poems, and since not a day passes that does not bring to my desk a large sheaf of letters from all parts of the country, it is only natural that I have learned something of the poetry preferences of the American people. I have used this knowledge rather than my own personal liking in the selection of these poems; but I feel free to say that there are few of the poems that I would not have included myself."''The Best Loved Poems of the American People'' (1936) ed. Hazel Felleman, Doubleday, p.vFelleman married Lawyer Henry Powell, a lawyer (d.1953). She died on April 30, 1975, at the Beacon Hotel, Broadway at 74th Street, New York.
References
Further reading
*''The Best Loved Poems of the American People'' (1936) Ed. Hazel Felleman, Doubleday *''Poems That Live Forever'' (1965) Ed. Hazel Felleman, DoubledayExternal links