Shirley, Betsy Beinecke

Betsy Beinecke Shirley was born in New York City, on October 2, 1919, the daughter of Walter and Katherine Sperry Beinecke. Raised in the city and on Nantucket, Massachusetts, she attended the Spence School in Manhattan, and the Greenwood School in Ruxton, Maryland, after which, in 1941, she married Carl Shirley (1916-1996). Betsy Shirley began collecting American juvenile literature in the 1970s, eventually branching out to encompass original illustrations and manuscripts for children’s books, as well as manuscripts, correspondence, and drawings by and about American children, their education, imagination, and play. The Betsy Beinecke Shirley Collection of American Children's Literature grew to hold thousands of volumes of books and serials, and hundreds of manuscript items and works of original art, many of which were displayed throughout her home in Bernardsville, New Jersey. A trustee of the Newark Museum for many years, she regularly lent books and original illustrations to museum and library exhibitions, including A Child's Garden of Dreams at the Brandywine River Museum (1989-1990), which was drawn entirely from her collection. Betsy Shirley died in Bernardsville on September 4, 2004.

From the guide to the Betsy Beinecke Shirley collection of American children's literature, 1640-2001, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)