Milhous, Katherine, 1894-1977

American illustrator and author of children's picture books.

American illustrator and author of children's books.

Katherine Milhous was born in Philadelphia on November 27, 1894. She grew up in Pitman, New Jersey, a small camp meeting town. She returned to Philadelphia to attend the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, from which she won a Cresson Traveling Scholarship in 1934. She supported herself as a newspaper illustrator while in school. From 1935-1940, she was a supervisor for the Federal Art Project (FAP), for which she also made model houses and many striking posters celebrating rural life in Pennsylvania. Her poster art for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) caught the eye of Scribner's juvenile editor, Alice Dalgliesh, who encouraged her to illustrate for children. Once on a Time (1938) and Happily Ever After (1939) by Dalgliesh featured Milhous's first illustrations. She soon moved on to writing her own text, and in 1940 Milhous published Lovina: a Story of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. She drew on her Pennsylvania Dutch background for her books Herodia, the Lovely Puppet (1942) and the Caldecott Medal-winning The Egg Tree (1951). Her hometown Philadelphia inspired Patrick and the Golden Slippers (1951), about the Mummers' Parade, and Through These Arches: The Story of Independence Hall (1964). Milhous considered Through These Arches her most important book, embodying her love for Philadelphia and its history. Milhous illustrated many books, both of her own and of others, and worked as staff designer at Scribner's from 1944-1946. The Silver Pencil, which she illustrated for Alice Dalgliesh, was a Newbery Honor book in 1945. She died in Philadelphia on December 5, 1977. Frances Lichten was an artist, illustrator, and specialist on Pennsylvanian folk art who met Milhous in art school and became her lifelong friend. Born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, in 1889, Lichten evinced an interest in art as a child, and like Milhous studied at Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She worked as a commercial artist for many years before becoming the State Supervisor for the Index of American Design from 1936-1941. This project was a WPA initiative that hired artists to document American folk arts and crafts. As an expert on Pennsylvania folk art, Lichten also published The Folk Art of Rural Pennsylvania (1941), Folk Art Motifs of Pennsylvania (1954), and Fraktur: The Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Dutch (1958). From 1955 until her death in 1961, she was a Research Associate in the Decorative Arts Department at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She and Milhous shared a studio for nearly forty years and collaborated on the illustrations for They Live in South America (1942) by Alice Dalgliesh.

Katherine Milhous was born November 27, 1894, in Philadelphia, PA. She attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She began illustrating children's books in the 1930s, and writing them in the 1940s. Her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage and love of Philadelphia played a major part in shaping both her artwork and her stories. Many of her books are set in the Pennsylvania countryside or in Philadelphia. Her Caldecott Award winning book, The Egg Tree, published in 1950, drew on the folk traditions of the region. Ms. Milhous' illustrations are noted for their colorful, bold, yet simple, style, as well as her use of fold motifs, and emphasis on the wonders of nature, while her writing is also plain and simple. Throughout her long career she continued to illustrate other author's works. She died on December 5, 1977.

American illustrator and author of children's books; Caldecott Award winner, 1951.

American author and illustrator of children's books.