Annie Carroll Moore was born on July 12, 1871 amidst the wooded Cornish roads and the snow-capped White Mountains of Limerick, Maine. She was the tenth child of Luther and Sarah Hidden Barker Moore, following seven brothers and two sisters who died prematurely and suddenly during their infancy. She was named after her aunt and only some fifty years after her birth did Annie Carroll Moore officially changed her name to Anne Carroll Moore. The change came about because during the same time period another woman Annie E. Moore was publishing materials on librarianship as well. By changing her name, she was able to avoid any confusion between the two women who monikers were literally identical.
Anne’s father played a significant role in her development toward becoming one of the foremost experts on children’s literature. She disliked being read to with the exception of her father. He was the only person who she enjoyed reading to her because he read in the same tone in which he talked and he shared the same passions as she did. Luther Moore was already fifty when Anne was born and he was her youngest child and only surviving daughter.
Her father was a lawyer who began his academic career at Harvard and eventually came to serve as the President of the Senate in the state of Maine and trustee of the State Agricultural College (later evolved in to the University of Maine). Under her father’s influence, several of Anne’s brothers also pursued careers in law and she also showed an interest and affinity for the law. However, 1891 was not a time where law was considered to be a woman’s career.
Undeterred by the social restraints put on her, Anne Carroll Moore continued to read all the materials she could get her hands on. She read everything from children’s books to law books to classical literature. She had her heart set on serving as a clerk in her father’s law firm but her father’s death on January 14, 1892 ended her life-long dreams. Two days later, Anne’s mother surrendered her life to the same influenza epidemic that had taken her father’s life.
At age 21, with both parents gone, Anne lived day by day, blinded by the pain and agony of their death. No longer able to clerk at her father’s office, she was forced to consider other possible careers. One of her options was to teach at the Limerick Academy where her brother Harry served as the principal. However, he too had lost his wife during the childbirth process and Anne had no choice but to care for his two elder daughters.
It was only three years after the death of her parents, at age 25, did
Anne Carroll Moore begin to follow her destiny into the library world.
At the time, public libraries were gaining the favor of the general
public and a mere three years later, Andrew Carnegie would begin his
philanthropic work to build public libraries across the nation.
She heard rumors about the possibilities of a career in the library and
she entered the Pratt Institute in 1985. One
year later, she served as the Librarian of the Children’s Room at the Pratt
Institute Free Library bringing with her very limited knowledge of children’s
literature and relying mainly on her own childhood experiences. However,
Anne Carroll Moore was always one to put all her energies into her interests,
and she spent all her free time studying the behaviors of children both inside
the library as well as their school environment. She also studied children’s behavior in their homes and as
they played along the city streets.
Anne Carroll Moore’s long-spanning career is most noted by her pioneering efforts in children’s literature. Not only was she a master of collection development, she was ardent about reviewing and critiquing books and their value to children and adults. Additionally, during her librarianship at the Pratt Institute and her reign as the Director of Children’s Services at the New York Public Library she brought children’ literature and children’s librarianship out of the shadows and into the spotlight. It is due to her influences and her efforts that children’s librarianship was not just a row of books among the millions of other books in the general collection, but a specialty and an area of interest to all members of the community.
During her studies at the Pratt Institute she had not intended to focus specifically on children’s literature. It all started one day when she was reading the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes and at the end of the story, she couldn’t believe that authors, teachers, and librarians expected children to believe such ridiculous stories. She couldn’t even fathom children relating to such a far-fetched story and she believed that such reading suggestions made by uninformed parents and teachers caused young to students to develop a dislike toward reading. Anne believed that the shortcomings of many of the books suggested to children were the reason they never loved the art of reading.
During Anne Carroll Moore’s career at the Pratt Institute, she was able to make children’s literature and the Children’s Library a focal point of the community. She opened the Children’s Library in the evening for use by older children and she went out into the public schools to bring both the library and the classroom together. However, it was really 10 years into her career that she permanently etched her name in all library history books by accepting a job at the New York Public Library.
In 1906, Anne Carroll Moore was hired by Dr. John Shaw Billings, who served as the first director of the New York Public Library. Dr. Billings gave Anne “carte blanche” to run and develop the children’s branch, which later came to be known as Children’s Services. By this time, she no longer relied on just her own experiences, rather, she brought with her ten years experience in Children’s Librarianship and much research and experimentation on what techniques work best for the younger public audience. At this time, she also spent much of her time in attempting to understand educational philosophies as well as philosophies of service. Her research led her to the development of a set of standards called the “Four Respects.” The four respects were as follows:
1) Respect for children
2) Respect for children’s books
3) Respect for fellow workers
4) Respect for the professional standing of children’s librarians
She trained her staff in storytelling, children’s resources and management techniques and the training she provided her staff is often considered an early predecessor to what is now taught in most library schools.
Anne Carroll Moore’s ability to bring children’s literature to the forefront of the New York Public Library was just one of her many accomplishments. However, her legend is most often attributed to her reputation as an unrelenting children’s book critic. Her personal views toward children’s work later became the cornerstone for evaluating books. She maintained a very high level of standards for children’s books and she was very articulate about her expectations.
In 1918, there were developments in the library world that gave Moore’s review of books more weight than ever. Moore was considered among many local librarians and patrons of the New York City Library to be an authority on the topic of children’s books. In just one year, she was asked to deliver a series of lectures to eight various publishing companies, booksellers, and other distinguished people. The MacMillan Publishing Company, foreseeing the potential of children’s materials, created the first-ever separate children’s publishing division and several other publishing companies, name Doubleday and Scribner’s, soon followed suit. The head of the MacMillan children’s publishing division was Louis Seaman Bechtel, a personal friend of Anne Carroll Moore.
Around the same time, Carnegie was donating millions of dollars to hundreds of libraries, many of which maintained separate rooms dedicated to the sole purpose of promoting children’s literature. Furthermore, 1918 marked the first year that Moore served on the staff of the Bookman. At the time, Bookman was thought to be the “chief American literary journal of the day.” She had a regular column, which featured her reviews of children’s books.
The combination of all the preceding events soon gave Anne Carroll Moore unprecedented power with regards to children’s books. Any review given by Moore was often the deciding factor in a book’s sales. She maintained strong feelings toward what she considered to be valuable or outstanding books and her reviews were usually in line with her feelings. She felt that a children’s book was not worth mentioning unless it had received a review by either herself or her fellow experts that she had trained. In fact, because Moore was touted as THE children’s book critic it would cause quite a ruckus if she opted not to review a book.
Probably the most infamous incident occurred in the 1930’s, with the creation of E.B. White’s Stuart Little. For the most part, White’s book was well received and was praised by many critics with the exception of two. One of which was Anne Carroll Moore, who refused to review the book altogether. She was quoted by Bertha Miller, editor of Horn Book, as saying “I was never so disappointed in a book in my life.”
She wrote to White personally to express her disappointment, stating that his book was lacking realistic fantasy and that the invention of his character was too “labored.” Moore also noted that the illustrations in the book were out of scale and that out of professional respect she would withhold her review. She also gave E.B. White a piece of advice; don’t publish the book. Much to the chagrin of Moore, White continued with his plans for publication. Over 50 years later, Stuart Little remains one of the most widely read books by children of all ages, considered to be one of the modern day classics, proving that a bad review or no review from Anne Carroll Moore did not mean the demise of an author or their book as most thought it would. It also proved that Miss Moore was human and made mistakes like everyone else.
In fact, in 1966 Johnny Carson presented Stuart Little on national television. E.B. White, unaffected by the unfavorable comments from Moore, later wrote, “She said the book was non-affirmative, inconclusive, unfit for children and would harm its author if published. It is unnerving to be told you’re bad for children, but I detected in Miss Moore’s letter an assumption that there are rule governing the writing of juvenile literature – rules as inflexible as the rules for lawn tennis.”
Anne Carroll Moore went beyond her role just as a book critic and librarian. Her influence and power over children’s literature allowed her the authority to create a list of recommended books each year. This list was a challenge that she cherished and she put much value on her list of books. Each year, Miss Moore would release her list of recommended books and publishers, authors, schools, parents, and librarians would wait anxiously for the names of the books to be released. Earning a coveted spot on her list was held in great esteem and the honor of being included on this list is still a highly respected achievement. She went on to also put out other lists such as “Children’s Books Suggested as Holiday Gifts” and “Holiday Books for Boys and Girls.” This is quite similar to the present day events of literary awards such as the Caldecott Award and the Newberry Award. Just as publishers, authors, and illustrators await anxiously for the announcement of the winner nowadays, they waited for the recommended book list from Anne Carroll Moore in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
Although she was highly respected for her knowledge and advanced librarianship skills, Miss Moore was not known for her kind-heartedness or tactful words. Rather, she was vitriolic, caustic, and harsh with her words and she never spared anyone’s feelings. Grace Hogarth, author of A Publisher’s Perspective, remembers back to her role, at age 27, as the newly appointed editor at the New York Public Library. After one of her very first assignments, Anne Carroll Moore called her into her office and demanded to know from her “Why have you, representing the Oxford University Press published this trash?” Hogarth attempted to defend both herself and her work, but the words simply stumbled out under the glowering state of Moore.
Several years passed after this particular incident. However, Grace Hogarth soon came to understand that Miss Moore had was much more perceptive than she had given her credit for and she was right about her work. However, it was the fear-inducing and bellowing tone in which she used that often brought fear into her employees and colleagues.
On her good days she was described as being more like a mellow dragon.
Her bad days had everyone holding their breath that she would not call
them into her office. However, few
people have shaped children’s literature like Anne Carroll Moore.
She was world-renown for her achievements and groundbreaking developments
in children’s librarianship. Her
name served as a standard of quality and excellence and her work brought
children’ literature out of the woodwork and onto the shelves of libraries.
It was under her reign that such wonderful programs like children’s
story hour were spawned. Her work
and passion for children’s literature is unparalleled and her name is
permanent fixture in library history books across the globe.
Her retirement from the New York Public Library in 1941 marked the end of
one of the most celebrated careers in the history of libraries.
I found Anne Carroll Moore to be a very interesting topic and to be honest I knew very little about her before writing this paper. However, I was quite surprised at the sheer number of resources available on this pioneer of children’s literature. The School Library Journal was chockfull of articles about her or relating to her work. There were several books in the “Z” section of the library that were also quite helpful. One of them was her biography written by her successor at the New York Public Library, Frances Clarke Sayers. There was even one book about her in the “CT” section of the library devoted to working women and the women’s movement.
I was amazed at the number of journal articles devoted to Miss Moore. However, I was quite disappointed because some of the journal articles on her did date back to the 1940’s because that was the time of her reign. However, the majority of journal articles on her were published in the early to mid-nineties. Also, there were quite a few articles on her available on the Internet and each article cited more resources available. The resources that I found to be the most reliable and most useful was the biography by Sayers and the articles by School Library Journal. The website I used was very concise and I thought that Three Owls was a good resource for insight on her work but it was too hard to simplify the information for the purposes of the paper.
Prior to my decision to write on the achievements of Anne Carroll Moore I had intended to write on Mildred L. Batchelder. Finding resources on her was quite a daunting task. There was nothing on her in the Voyager catalog. The only articles on her on the Internet were from the ALA so there weren’t any sources cited, and furthermore, even OCLC didn’t have but one book on her. It was quite a relief when I switched from the topic of Mildred Batchelder to Anne Carroll Moore not only because of the availability of resources, but also because I didn’t quite realize what an important role she played in children’s librarianship. It’s especially good for future School Library Media Specialists to understand the enormity of her contributions.
Bibliography
Bader. Barbara. “Only the Best: The Hits and Misses of Anne Carroll Moore,” The Horn Book Magazine 73 (September/October 1997): 520-28.
Cummins, Julie.
“Moore Than Meets the Eye,” School Library Journal (1999)
[journal on-line] available from Academic Search Premier,
<http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?jId=4474>
Ferris, Helen, and Virginia Moore. Girls Who Did: Stories of real girls and their careers.
New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1926.
Hogarth, Grace.
“A Publisher’s Perspective,” The Horn Book Magazine 6.
(May/June 1987): 372-77.
McElderry, M.K.
“Remarkable Women,” School Library Journal (1992) [journal
on-line]; available from Academic Search Premier,
<http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?jId=4474>
Moore, Anne Carroll.
The Three Owls. New
York: Coward-McCann, 1931.
Moore, Anne Carroll.
My Roads to Childhood: Views and Reviews of Children’s Books.
New York: Doubleday, Doran &
Company, 1939.
Rox, Ann.
“Anne Carroll Moore (1871-1961),” Home page on-line.
Available from Internet; accessed 4 October 2003.
Sayers, Frances Clarke. Anne Carroll Moore. New York: Atheneum, 1972.