{"id":7838,"date":"2024-04-29T16:45:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T16:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/?p=7838"},"modified":"2024-04-29T16:45:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T16:45:07","slug":"caldecott-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/2024\/04\/29\/caldecott-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Caldecott Medal: \u201cA Hasty Idea Thrown Out\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Frederic G. Melcher, 1926<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As we look forward to book award ceremonies at the ALA Annual Conference this summer, we\u2019re taking a moment to reflect on the history of one of the most prestigious children\u2019s book awards, the Caldecott Medal. Established in 1937 to recognize the most distinguished American picture book for children, the first medal was awarded in 1938 to Dorothy P. Lathrop for the book, Animals of the Bible<\/em>. However, the idea was first presented in 1935 in a letter by Frederic G. Melcher.<\/p>\n

Melcher established the Newbery Medal in 1921 for \u201cthe most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.\u201d While the medal was met was great enthusiasm, some felt that the award excluded books for younger children. Writing on behalf of the Association for Childhood Education, Professor May Hill Arbuthnot of Western Reserve University communicated this concern to Elizabeth Briggs, the Newbery Committee chair, in 1935.<\/p>\n

Arbuthnot expressed the Association\u2019s gratitude towards the Newbery Medal, citing that it stimulated better writing in children\u2019s literature. However, she noted that the books chosen for the award \u201calmost crossed over into the field of literature for young people rather than for children.\u201d[1]<\/a> The Association was concerned that books for young children were not being recognized. Arbuthnot pressed that there was a \u201chope that the Committee for the Newbery Award will consider carefully the field of literature for young children both because no award has ever been made at that level and also because the stimulation of such a distinction is greatly needed.\u201d[2]<\/a> Arbuthnot proposed that the Newbery could be awarded to books for the youngest children every so many years or that a Junior Newbery Award be established.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Letter from Melcher to Briggs, May 9, 1935.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The letter came too late the sway any decisions made by the Newbery Committee for that awards cycle, but Briggs took the liberty of forwarding Arbuthnot\u2019s letter to Melcher.[3]<\/a> While Melcher did not weigh in on the decisions made by the Newbery selection committees, he remained involved in the awards process. He was a source of advice to committee chairs, paid for the medals to be struck and shipped, notified publishers of the award bestowed upon their authors, and encouraged publicity for Newbery, conscious of its prestige and influence. He was instantly intrigued by the idea of another award for literature for younger children.<\/p>\n

Writing to Briggs, Melcher mused, \u201c\u2026 the Executive Committee of the Children\u2019s Section might think of possible plans for extending the influence of the award.\u201d[4]<\/a> He immediately dismissed the idea of having an award only every so many years as he felt the volume of children\u2019s literature was so great that it would produce an outstanding book. Instead, Melcher thought an award should be given every year to be announced at the same time as the Newbery, though it had to be different enough to distinguish the two awards. He even came up with the name, \u201cThis might be called the Caldecott Award, for example.\u201d[5]<\/a> Then in the closing sentence to his letter, Melcher wrote, \u201cThis is only a hasty idea thrown out …\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

In a letter less than ten sentences long, Melcher created a preliminary sketch for what would become the Randolph Caldecott Medal. In hindsight, Melcher\u2019s own downplaying of his idea is humorous as his \u201chasty idea\u201d gained traction and became one of ALA\u2019s most enduring and prestigious book awards.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> May Hill Arbuthnot to Elizabeth Briggs, April 26, 1935, Awards File, 1934-2009, Record Series 24\/2\/8, Box 3, Folder: Newbery Medal Committee, 1935.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Elizabeth Briggs to May Hill Arbuthnot, May 7, 1935, Awards File, 1934-2009, Record Series 24\/2\/8, Box 3, Folder: Newbery Medal Committee, 1935.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Frederic Melcher to Elizabeth Briggs, May 9, 1935, Awards File, 1934-2009, Record Series 24\/2\/8, Box 3, Folder: Newbery Medal Committee, 1935.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we look forward to book award ceremonies at the ALA Annual Conference this summer, we\u2019re taking a moment to reflect on the history of one of the most prestigious children\u2019s book awards, the Caldecott Medal. Established in 1937 to recognize the most distinguished American picture book for children, the first medal was awarded in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":706,"featured_media":7839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,259],"class_list":["post-7838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ala-history","tag-awards","tag-caldecott-medal"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/706"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7841,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7838\/revisions\/7841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ala\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}