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The Legacy of Francelia Butler
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Oh, to have watched as Francelia Butler defied her employer and refused to write favorably of Adolph Hitler or, later, insisted on admitting black alumni from Oberlin, her alma mater, to a banquet at her place of work. And, to have witnessed the same indomitable will take on the academic world when Butler championed the hitherto denigrated field of children’s literature!
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Francelia McWilliams was born on April 25, 1913. She made a great life for herself, despite enduring an unhappy childhood in Ohio. In July 1939 in Paris, Francelia married Jerome Butler, journalist for the Paris Herald Tribune (which became the International Herald Tribune), with staff members in attendance.
In 1963, at the age of 50, she earned her Ph.D. at the University of Virginia in Renaissance Literature. She returned to school as an odd duck—a middle-aged single mother. Her beloved husband, Jerome Butler, whom she nursed and advocated for, died of cancer in 1949. During those challenging college days, she was befriended by graduate student Richard H.W. Dillard, who became a renowned poet and fiction writer and, in 1964, a professor of literature, creative writing, and film studies at Hollins College.
In 1965, Dr. Butler became a professor in the English Department of the University of Connecticut. She was relegated to children’s literature, or what her colleagues mockingly termed “kiddie lit.” Butler called the field the "great excluded," because at the time, she found it to be the redheaded stepchild of the university and wider academic community. With her characteristic feistiness, Butler took on the challenge of changing academia’s contempt for children’s literature.
Dr. Butler’s children’s literature course quickly became one of the most popular at the university, with guest lecturers such as Maurice Sendak, Bruno Bettelheim, and Big Bird. She also forged ahead with the creation of the journal Children’s Literature, the first of its kind in the field. And, in 1972, became the founding director of the Children’s Literature Association (ChLA).
Despite her accomplishments, Dr. Butler still felt the study of children’s literature was disparaged by her colleagues at the University of Connecticut and eventually transferred sponsorship of her journal to Yale University. Upon her retirement in 1992, Butler searched for a permanent home for her journal. She also wanted a repository for her knowledge and philosophies in the form of a program dedicated to the serious study of children’s literature. Her quest led her to think of her pal, Richard H.W. Dillard, and Hollins College.
On the condition that the school would create a graduate program in children's literature, Butler transferred academic sponsorship of Children’s Literature to Hollins. The graduate program was launched in 1992 with six students. And, when the college’s own children’s literature texts were wiped out by a flood, she gifted Hollins with her considerable children's literature collection. Some of these books are so valuable—early editions, special editions, or with fabulous autographs—that the books and materials are available only with supervision in the Special Collections room of the Wyndham Robertson Library.
Francelia McWilliams Butler passed away on Sept. 17, 1998, in Windham, Connecticut, at age 85. She left a legacy of thriving children’s literature studies at Hollins and around the world. In her honor, Hollins’ annual children’s literature conference bears her name. But, more, Hollins students are participants in Francelia Butler's dream, challenging the prevailing attitude of “kiddie lit” and, with determination and unflagging creativity, changing the future of children’s literature forever.
~By Jan Godown "JG" Annino, with Jenette Guntly, 2009
Some of the information for this article was taken from Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. Francelia Butler Is Dead at 85: Children’s Literature Champion. New York Times, 25 September, 1998.
Photograph of Francelia Butler, with newsman Walter Cronkite, Paris, 1987, courtesy of Richard H. W. Dillard, Hollins University.
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The inaugural event, named the First Annual Hollins College Children's Book Conference, launched on July 29, 1995, with 19 stupendous student readings. The Roanoke star shone on at least three Hollins children's literature writers of that first summer season: Betty Hicks, now a noted YA novelist; student Alexandria LaFaye, who became both a renowned novelist and Hollins professor; and finally, Heather Quarles, who went on to earn honors, such as the ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 1999. |
Still hearing echoes of the 1995 conference applause, Betty Hicks and Alexandra LaFaye return to present.
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Student Megan Hiller, who later becomes a book editor, co-chairs the conference and presents a critical paper. Student Alexandria LaFaye reads the eventually famed STRAWBERRY HILL. Fellow student, and later author and professor, Hillary Homzie reads her creative piece, Disaster and Company.
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Some of the fetching titles read are: The Prayer of the Chicken Hawk by Joan Carris (prolific author based in N.C.); Mountain Marbles, by Tracy Roberts; and The Muffin Queen of Venice Beach, by Tracy Churchill.
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A theme is unfurled for the first time, creating a standard to be ever bested in summers after: ”Lets Go Over the Rainbow with Children's Literature."
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Celebrity visits the judge's booth when Perry Nodelman casts a critical eye over the papers presented at the five-year-old conference. Alexandria LaFaye, now an author with a quartet of fine children's literature titles, judges, too.
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Katie Fullman and Betsy Matthews grace the audience with folk music entertainment—the first noted in the conference brochures.
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Lara Saguisag, our farthest-traveling student, reads The Napping Doll and her critical paper, "Growing Up Female: The Portrayal of Menarche in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.” She later wins The New School's (NYC) Writing for Children Chapbook Award for Children of Two Seasons: Poems for Young People. She is an expert on Filipino children's literature.
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Hillary Homzie (1996) is now a conference judge and author of the Alien Clones from Outer Space series. The conference theme is "Triumphs of the Spirit."
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The conference earns a knockout T-shirt, designed by student and artist Leslie Wessel. The first conference art exhibit arrives, featuring Courtney Angermeier, Elizabeth Robinson, Mary Tasillo and Margaret Williamson.
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Ten years young! A conference first—unpublished, Hollins-archived rough drafts of Margaret Wise Brown’s work are adapted for conference presentation by Ernie Zulia's Page-to-Stage summer class.
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The conference memorializes beloved Hollins summer storyteller in-residence and folklore preservationist Ann B. Sullivan, wife of Hollins professor Chip Sullivan. One tribute is a group performance of one of her favorites, the Wanda Gag picture book classic, Millions of Cats.
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An Oz-Fest Chorus brings down the house with astounding acts, including student Melissa Adam's rhyme, "If I Only Sold a Book," sung to a tune everyone knows. The first conference silent auction helps support the first Margaret Kates Art Award for an original work of art by a student.
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"Oh, the Thinks you can Think … at Hollins!" sets the stage for Hollins-themed musical acts, written by Jenette Guntly and Michele DeCamp, along the lines of the Broadway play, “The Seussical.” Philip Nel presents his scholarship on minority representation in the works of Dr. Seuss in “Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: Seuss and Race in the 1950s." |
This year’s conference is set to become another great success, with its fairy tale theme spawning any number of creative expressions. It will feature the engrossing research of Maria Tatar of Harvard University as she explores fairy tales through her discussion of horror and beauty. Expect an outbreak of costumes!
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~ Compiled by Jan Godown "JG" Annino, '05-' 08 with supplementation by Jenette Guntly
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