James Baldwin (1841–1925) was an American educator and administrator. He served as the superintendent of Indiana's school system for 18 years and then went on to become a widely published textbook editor and

children's author Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

in the subjects of

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mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

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, and

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, among others.

Biography

James Baldwin was born in

Hamilton County, Indiana Hamilton County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. The 2020 United States census recorded a population of 347,467. The county seat is Noblesville. Hamilton County is part of the Indianapolis- Carmel- Anderson, IN Metropolitan Statist ...

on December 15, 1841. He became an educator and administrator in that state starting at the age of 24. He served as the superintendent of Indiana's school system for 18 years He was one of the most prolific authors of school books for children at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. In addition to the Baldwin Readers (1897), he co-authored the Harper Readers (1888) and the Expressive Readers (1911). He wrote over thirty books about famous people in history and retold classical stories. His publications numbered 54 volumes. It is estimated that 26 million copies of his works sold worldwide, including in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. A self-educated man, he became a school superintendent before working as an editor for Harper's and later for the American Book Company. He wrote more than fifty books, including ''Fifty Famous Stories Retold'' (1896) and ''Abraham Lincoln, a True Life'' (1904). James Baldwin died at his home in

South Orange, New Jersey South Orange is a historic suburban Village (New Jersey), village located in Essex County, New Jersey. It was formally known as the Township of South Orange Village from October 1978 until April 25, 2024. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

on September 1, 1925.

References

External links

Biography and bibliography
at The Baldwin Project. Includes text sources. * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, James 1841 births 1925 deaths Educators from Indiana People from Hamilton County, Indiana American book editors American textbook writers American children's writers