Background
Eileen Colwell was born on June 16, 1904, in Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire. She was the third daughter of the minister, Richard Harold Colwell.
Gower St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
Eileen Colwell studied at University College London.
Eileen Colwell
The Burroughs, Hendon, London NW4 4BQ, United Kigdom
Eileen Colwell with little readers.
lecturer Librarian storyteller writer
Eileen Colwell was born on June 16, 1904, in Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire. She was the third daughter of the minister, Richard Harold Colwell.
Eileen Colwell received her diploma in librarianship from the University College School of Librarianship in 1924.
Eileen Colwell was one of the first librarians in England to specialize in children's literature. Throughout her life, she was an active force in promoting children's books both in England and abroad. In 1924 she got her first job as a senior library assistant at the Bolton Public Library that year. When she heard that the library in Hendon was creating a new children's collection, Eileen leaped at the chance to help organize it.
Specialized libraries in children's literature were, at the time, a new idea, and Eileen Colwell, therefore, was able to lead the way in establishing a collection for children according to her preferences. She hand-picked an initial stock of 2,000 volumes, chosen with the help of Eleanor Graham and other friends, and set about laying the groundwork for a welcoming, inclusive children's library.
When the library officially opened in 1929, Eileen was appointed its librarian and remained in that job until 1967. She was not only active in Hendon but also throughout England, working with the Library Association to help encourage others to specialize in children's books and to establish the Kate Greenaway and Carnegie medals.
Eileen Colwell also initiated clubs and storytelling and encouraged the children to chat about their books and help run the library. In 1937, Eileen Colwell participated in the creation of the Association of Children's Librarians. After 40 years, in 1967, she left Hendon, and she started to lecture in librarianship at Loughborough University for a further two.
Also, Eileen developed a talent for storytelling. As a schoolgirl, she would often spend her playtimes telling stories to the smaller children. It was a skill she developed to complement her library work, and over the years - and invariably accompanied by her glove-puppet Jacko - she gave storytelling sessions to up to 40,000 children.
She would regularly regale children with stories of her invention, often changing them according to suggestions she got from her young audience. Many of the best of these collected in her A Storyteller's Choice.
Her talents as a storyteller are evident in books How I Became a Librarian and Once Upon a Time. She also the author of Storytelling, a book which specialties on read-aloud techniques.
Before becoming an expert storyteller, she took lessons from the singer and specialist in vocal training Sterling Mackinlay. She learned stories by heart, then practiced them in front of the mirror. So, she made many appearances on the British Broadcasting Corporation's Jackanory television program.
(A handbook on the fundamental techniques of storytelling ...)
1980(It is a collection of ten stories about the highlights of...)
1989(A young duck with a broken wing outwits a hungry fox with...)
1975Eileen Colwell considered it of vital importance that children should have access to books from an early age, and that their first introduction to literature should be a pleasant one.