Eileen Hilda Colwell was a pioneer children’s librarian.

Born in Robin Hood’s Bay

Robin Hood's Bay

Robin Hood’s Bay is a small fishing village and a bay located five miles south of Whitby and 15 miles north of Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire, England. Bay Town, its local name, is in the ancient chapelry of Fylingdales in the wapentake of Whitby Strand.-Toponymy:The origin of the name...

 in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, Colwell was the third daughter of a Methodist minister. She obtained a scholarship and studied librarianship at University College

University College

University College can refer to several institutions:- Canada :* University College, University of Toronto* University College of the North, The Pas, Manitoba* Booth University College, Winnipeg, Manitoba...

. She had become interested in the idea of a children’s library at an early age but found that the course (then the only one of its kind in the country) did not cover the subject.

After leaving college she worked at Bolton Library before obtaining the new post of Children's Librarian for Hendon

Hendon

Hendon is a London suburb situated northwest of Charing Cross.-History:Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday , but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier...

 Urban District in October 1926. Mostly providing schools with "book cupboards" she built the children’s collection (2,000 volumes) from scratch. In 1929 Colwell was made permanent children's librarian with the opening of Hendon Library.

She pioneered the use of story telling hours (sometimes with a puppet called Jacko), and even let the children help with the running of the library. In 1965 Eileen was made an MBE and in 1967 she left Hendon, and for a while lectured at Loughborough University

Loughborough University

Loughborough University is a research based campus university located in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, in the East Midlands of England...

. She made several radio programs with the BBC and even appeared on Jackanory

Jackanory

Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, the first story being the fairy-tale Cap o' Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 24 March 1996,...

.

Her books include:

• Autobiography, Once Upon A Time (2000)
• Princess Splendour And Other Stories (1969)
• The Magic Umbrella And Other Stories Of Telling (1977)

Sources

The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

Obituary September 25, 2002