Lucille Wallower (married name Van Horn) was born in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania on July 27, 1910, and spent most of her life in the Harrisburg area. She attended the Pennsylvania Museum School of Art (now University of the Arts) and the Traphagen School of Fashion. In addition to her work as a children’s book author and illustrator, she spent six years as a fashion illustrator and was a children’s librarian in the Harrisburg region for more than thirty years.

Wallower began working as an illustrator in 1937 for the children’s book publisher Albert Whitman & Company. She illustrated five books for Whitman before writing her first self-illustrated book, A Conch Shell for Molly (1940), which was a Junior Literary Guild selection. With a focus on the Pennsylvania Canal, A Conch Shell for Molly was the first of many of Wallower’s books about Pennsylvania history.

Wallower described her early books as “fiction with a historical background” but later transitioned into writing educational texts on Pennsylvania history. Working for the educational publishing house Penns Valley, Wallower wrote Pennsylvania Primer (1954) and All About Pennsylvania (1960) as well as more narrow “geographies” on the Pennsylvania Dutch and black history. She continued writing until 1991, publishing more than forty books, many of which were self-illustrated. Wallower died in Cambridge, New York on August 30, 1999.

Bibliography:

Pennsylvania Center for the Book. “Wallower, Lucille.” Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania State University. Last modified fall 2001. http://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Wallower__Lucille.html

Something About the Author, vol. 11.

The papers of Pennsylvania children's author Lucille Wallower contain typewritten drafts and illustrations for many different works, including All About Pennsylvania, Chooky, Colonial Histories: Pennsylvania, A Conch Shell for Molly, The Hippity Hopper: or, Why There Are No Indians in Pennsylvania, Indians of Pennsylvania, The Lost Prince: Louis XVII of France, Mara of Old Babylon, The Morning Star, My Book about Abraham Lincoln, The New Pennsylvania Primer, Old Satan: A Pennsylvania Folk Tale, Pennsylvania ABC, Pennsylvania: A Bicentennial Workshop, The Pennsylvania Dutch, They Came to Pennsylvania, Your Pennsylvania, and Your State, Pennsylvania. Wallower frequently collaborated with local teachers to produce text books for elementary level classes, and many of the works represented in this collection were created specifically for use in the classroom. These works may provide insight into teaching methods in public elementary schools during this time period. They may also be relevant to local historians interested in depictions of Pennsylvania in children’s literature. In addition to the book illustrations there are a few pieces of final art for illustrations she did for magazines and a number of published magazines featuring her artwork and writing. Along with the material produced by Lucille Wallower, this collection contains magazine clippings illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli. De Angeli and Wallower knew one another, and de Angeli's style influenced Wallower's work. Material of particular note from this collection are an almost complete set of final illustrations for The Hippity Hopper (1957) and original artwork for Old Satan. There are also 30 chromolithographs for Wallower's first self-illustrated book, A Conch Shell for Molly (1940).

This collection is arranged alphabetically in Twenty series: 1. All About Pennsylvania; 2. Chooky; 3. Clippings of Marguerite de Angeli illustrations; 4. Colonial Histories: Pennsylvania; 5. A Conch Shell for Molly; 6. The Hippity Hopper: or, Why There Are No Indians in Pennsylvania; 7. Indians of Pennsylvania; 8. The Lost Prince: Louis XVII of France; 9. Magazine Illustrations; 10. Mara of Old Babyon; 11. The Morning Star; 12. My Book about Abraham Lincoln; 13. The New Pennsylvania Primer; 14. Old Satan: A Pennsylvania Folk Tale; 15. Pennsylvania ABC; 16. Pennsylvania: A Bicentennial Workshop; 17. The Pennsylvania Dutch; 18. They Came to Pennsylvania; 19. Your Pennsylvania; and 20. Your State, Pennsylvania. Within each series the materials are arranged in probable order of creation.

Publication Information:

Free Library of Philadelphia: Children's Literature Research Collection, April 2012

Finding Aid Author:

Finding aid prepared by Garrett Boos

Sponsor:

The processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.

Access Restrictions:

This collection is open to researchers by appointment. Please contact the Curator for information on access.

Use Restrictions:

The right of access to material does not imply the right of publication. Permission for reprinting, reproduction, or extensive quotation from the rare books, manuscripts, prints, or drawings must be obtained through written application, stating the use to be made of the material. The reader bears the responsibility for any possible infringement of copyright laws in the publication of such material. A reproduction fee will be charged if the material is to be reproduced in a commercial publication.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

Gift of Lucille Wallower, 1974-1982.

• Book jackets
• Books
• Chromolithographs
• Clippings
• Color separations
• Correspondence
• Drawings (visual works)
• Galley proofs
• Illustrations
• Magazines (periodicals)
• Typescripts

• Pennsylvania

• Brookshire, Annette
• De Angeli, Marguerite, 1889-1987
• Gump, Patricia L.
• Trullinger, Martha E.
• Wallower, Lucille, 1910-
• Wholey, Ellen J.
• Wier, Bernice
• Witheridge, Elizabeth

• Children's authors--20th century
• Children's literature--20th century
• Illustrated children's books--20th century
• Illustration of books--20th century
• Indians of North America--Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania Dutch