Relationships with Authors

John MacKay Shaw’s interest in children’s literature expanded not only through poetry, but also through his relationships with other important 20th century poets and authors. His influence on these literary greats is evident in the numerous documents stored in the Shaw Collection. Some of the more personal objects in the Shaw Collection include his correspondence with acclaimed poets, authors, and book illustrators. The Shaw Collection also boasts numerous signed works with personal notes from the authors themselves to Shaw. These personal letters, notes, and acknowledgements are remnants of the special relationships Shaw had with some of the most important and influential authors in children’s literature.

 Lewis Carroll

Charles Dodgson was born on January 27, 1832 in Daresbury, Cheshire, England. He is better known by the pen name, Lewis Carroll and for his works Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871).  Carroll suffered from a bad stammer, but he found himself vocally fluent when speaking with children. Carroll loved to entertain children and this is ultimately suggested to be the inspiration behind his stories. Alice Liddell, the daughter of Henry George Liddell, is credited to his pinnacle inspiration. Carroll told the first iteration of what would become Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland to Alice Liddell and her sisters one evening; Alice asked Carroll to write it down for her. The story fell into the hands of the novelist Henry Kingsley, who urged Carroll to publish it. By the time of his death, Alice had become the most popular children's book in England, and by 1932 it was one of the most popular in the world. John Shaw has copies of the Alice books in his collections. Shaw’s daughter, Cathmar Prange, said that Alice in Wonderland was one of her father’s favorite books.

A.A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne was born in London, England, on January 18, 1882. He began writing for the literary magazine Punch in 1906, and his essays and humorous poetry were published in the magazine through 1914. Milne's greatest and enduring successes were his books Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). These books portray the adventures of a young boy named Christopher Robin, after Milne's son (Christopher Robin Milne), and his animal playmates, which were the inspiration for the books.  John Shaw has several signed editions of Milne’s books, such as The Secret and Michael and Mary. He also has The Christopher Robin Story Book and The Milne Books. Shaw’s daughter, Cathmar Prange, said that the Christopher Robin stories were among her father’s favorites of Milne.  

Phyllis McGinley

Phyllis McGinley (March 21, 1905 - February 22, 1978) was an American author with whom John Shaw maintained a long-standing correspondence. McGinley specialized in light verse, usually satirical, and often wrote about domestic life from a female point of view. She authored numerous books, including The Plain Princess, All Around the Town, The Horse Who Lived Upstairs, and Three Times Three: Selected Verse from Three Decades with Seventy New Poems, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. McGinley and John Shaw exchanged witty samples of verse, Christmas cards, even a humorous Valentine, and Mr. Shaw received copies of her finished books with personal inscriptions from her. The inscription in The Horse Who Lived Upstairs reads:

“To John Shaw—

With the hope that he will enjoy between the covers when he was (practically) the first to look at in the raw.

Phyllis McGinley”

Theodor Seuss Geisel

Ted Seuss Geisel, better known today as “Dr. Seuss”, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2, 1904. He attended Dartmouth College in 1925 where he majored in English Literature. He served as the editor of his school humor magazine under the name of Geisel, until he and his roommates were caught drinking gin in their room (in the middle of Prohibition), causing his suspension from his role as editor and was no longer allowed to include his own works. This is when he began using the pen name of “Seuss”. After graduating from Dartmouth, Ted went on to Oxford where he met the woman he would marry, Helen Palmer. They wed in 1927 and moved back to the US, into a west side New York apartment, where “Dr. Seuss” began his career as a children’s author. It was during this time that Mr. Geisel attempted a novel, which was less fun and cartoon based than his previous publications. Mr. John MacKay Shaw wrote to Dr. Seuss telling him to stick to poetry, because it was better suited for him, and that children need a good author. This struck up a bond and friendship between the two men, which resulted in much correspondence between them. Displayed in the exhibition are some of this correspondence, including letters from both men, some of which include hand-drawn cartoons from Dr. Seuss himself. Today Dr. Seuss is known for such children’s books as Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, The Cat in the Hat, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, among many others. Seuss was a great admirer of Shaw’s Childhood in Poetry collection, and of his friendship. They spoke of the collection in their letters, and Seuss even says how dearly he wished to see it and hold some of Shaw’s treasures from the collection. Now Dr. Seuss’s stories, and Ted Geisel’s letters, are a part of the collection.