Background
Mathews, the daughter of American Indian author John Joseph Mathews, co-founded the American Indian Library Association (AILA).
Mathews, the daughter of American Indian author John Joseph Mathews, co-founded the American Indian Library Association (AILA).
Mathews graduated from the Beard School (now Morristown-Beard School) in Orange, New Jersey in 1942.
She also helped develop Sesame Street while serving as a consultant to Children"s Television hop, and she promoted activities to support literacy through libraries. After high school, she took college courses at Goucher College, the University of Geneva, and Columbia University. In 2004, Morristown-Beard School awarded Mathews their Distinguished Alumni Award.
Mathews wrote reviews of children"s books for The New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times.
She also served as Deputy Director and then Director of the National Book Committee. The committee selected the National Book Awards and promoted public literacy during a 14-year period (1957 to 1974).
Mathews"s work with the National Book Committee to promote reading also helped created National Library Week. The Library of Congress now houses Mathews papers from her time working at the National Book Committee.
After leaving the National Book Committee, Mathews worked for the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.
Mathews organized the 1979 and 1991 White House Conferences on Library and Information Services. She also helped develop the American Library Association"s collaborations with Head Start. During the 1960s, Mathews created the children"s television series Reading Out Loud with Westinghouse Broadcasting executive Mike Santangelo.
Produced by Westinghouse for syndication, the show featured notable figures reading aloud their favorite books to children.
lieutenant debuted in February of 1960 on the five television stations owned by Westinghouse in Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. Reading Out Loud also opened on WNTA-television (now W National Educational Television-television) in New York City and 46 educational television stations around the United States. lieutenant ran as a half-hour show for 15 episodes.
Reading Out Loud featured guest appearances by: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (reading Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling) Actress Julie Harris (reading The Wind in The Willows) Actor José Ferrer (reading Huckleberry Finn) Baseball player Jackie Robinson (reading The Red Badge of Courage) Entertainer Gary Moore (reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) Novelist Pearl South. Buck (reading Chinese fables) Actor Cyril Ritchard (reading Alice in Wonderland) Singer Harry Belafonte (reading a folk tale about the spider Anansi) Senator John F. Kennedy (reading The Emergence of Lincoln).