Cornelia Meigs

**Cornelia Lynde Meigs** (December 6, 1884 – September 10, 1973) was an American writer. She wrote many kinds of writing. She wrote made-up stories for children. She wrote true stories for children about the lives of important people. She wrote about important things that happened in the past. She wrote about what books for children were good or bad. She also taught other people how to write in the English language.

One of the books that Cornelia Meigs wrote won the Newbery Medal in 1934. That book was called _Invincible Louisa_. It told about the life of Louisa May Alcott. Three other books that Cornelia Meigs wrote were made Newbery Honor Books. That meant that the people who chose the Newbery Medal winner each year thought that those were very good books.

## Life

Cornelia Meigs was born in Rock Island, Illinois, on December 6, 1884. Her father was called Montgomery Meigs. Her mother was called Grace Lynde Meigs. Montgomery and Grace already had four other daughters who were older than Cornelia. Later they had one more daughter.

When Cornelia was one month old, the Meigs family moved to Keokuk, Iowa. Cornelia went to school there. She finished studying at Keokuk High School in 1901. After that, she went to Bryn Mawr College. In 1907, she got an A.B. degree from Bryn Mawr. After that, she went to Davenport, Iowa. She taught children to write good English. The school where she taught was called St. Katherine's School. While she was teaching there, Cornelia started writing books.

The first book that Cornelia wrote was called _The Kingdom of the Winding Road_. It was first printed in 1915. Macmillan US was the publisher. In 1921 she wrote _The Windy Hill_, and in 1922 that book was made a Newbery Medal Honor Book. In 1929 her fiction book _Clearing Weather_ was made a Newbery Honor Book, and in 1933 her fiction book _Swift Rivers_ was made a Newbery Honor Book. She also wrote other books for children during this time. Some of these books said that they were written by Adair Aldon. Adair Aldon was a pretend name or pseudonym that Cornelia Meigs used sometimes. _The Trade Wind_, which was first printed in 1927, won a prize from Little, Brown, and Co., a book publishing company.

In 1934, Cornelia Meigs won the Newbery Medal for writing the true story book _Invincible Louisa_. This book told about the life of Louisa May Alcott, a famous American writer during the 1800s. _Kirkus Reviews_ said that this book was very good. Kirkus Reviews said that children who liked Louisa May Alcott's most famous book, _Little Women_, should read _Invincible Louisa_ too.

In 1932, Cornelia Meigs started teaching English at Bryn Mawr College. She taught there until 1950. During World War II, she worked for the United States War Department.

After 1950, Cornelia Meigs taught writing at the New School of Social Research in New York City. In 1953, she helped to write a book called _A Critical History of Children's Literature_. This was a very important book. It said many things about writing for children. In 1969 she helped to write the second edition of this book.

Cornelia Meigs wrote more than 30 books for children in her life. Most of them were made-up stories. Two of them were true stories about the lives of famous people. Two of her books were plays. She also wrote some books and articles for grown-up people.

Cornelia Meigs died in Havre de Grace, Maryland, on September 10, 1973. She was 88 years old. Most of the papers that she left when she died are in the Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College. Some of her papers are in the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Some of them are at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.

## Awards

- 1915 Drama League prize, _The Steadfast Princess_
- 1922 Newbery runner-up, _Windy Hill_
- 1928 Newbery runner-up, _Clearing Weather_
- 1933 Newbery runner-up, _Swift Rivers_
- 1927 Beacon Hill Bookshelf Prize, _The Trade Wind_
- 1934 Newbery Medal, _Invincible Louisa_
- 1963 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, _Invincible Louisa_

### Made-up stories for children

- _The Kingdom of the Winding Road_, Macmillan, 1915
- _Master Simon's Garden_, Macmillan, 1916
- _The Windy Hill_, Macmillan, 1921
- _The Trade Wind_, Little Brown, 1927
- _Clearing Weather_, Little Brown, 1928
- _The Crooked Apple Tree_, Little Brown, 1929
- _Swift Rivers_, Macmillan, 1934
- _Young Americans_, Ginn, 1936
- _The Scarlet Oak_, Macmillan, 1938
- _The Two Arrows_, Macmillan, 1949
- _The Dutch Colt_, Macmillan, 1952
- _Wild Geese Flying_, Macmillan, 1957
- _Mystery at the Red House_, Macmillan, 1961

### Made-up stories using the name "Adair Aldon"

- _The Island of Appledore_, Macmillan, 1917
- _The Pirate of Jasper Peak_, Macmillan, 1918
- _At the Sign of the Two Heroes_, Century, 1920
- _The Hill of Adventure_, Century, 1922

### Plays

- _The Steadfast Princess_, Macmillan, 1916
- _Helga and the White Peacock_, Macmillan, 1922

### Biographies

- _Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of "Little Women"_, Little, Brown, 1933
- _Jane Adams: Pioneer for Social Justice: A Biography_, Little Brown, 1970

### For adults

- _Railroad West_, Little Brown, 1937, (novel)
- _The Violent Men: A Study of Human Relations in the First American Congress_, Macmillan, 1949
- _A Critical History of Children's Literature: A Survey of Children's Books in English from Earliest Times to the Present, Prepared in Four Parts Under the Editorship of Cornelia Meigs_,  Macmillan, 1953 (624pp); Cornelia Meigs with Anne Thaxter Eaton, Elizabeth Nesbit and Ruth Hill Viguers
- Second edition, _A Critical History of Children's Literature: A Survey of Children's Books in English_, Macmillan, 1969 (708pp)
- _What Makes a College? A History of Bryn Mawr_, Macmillan, 1956

## Other websites

- Cornelia Lynde Meigs, Meigs Family History and Genealogy'' #1247
- Meigs Family papers  at Hagley Museum and Library
- — Meigs using pseudonym
- Cornelia Meigs at Library of Congress Authorities — with 52 catalog records