Adshead, Gladys L.

Gladys Lucy Adshead, author of numerous twentieth-century children's books, as well as a successful teacher and school administrator, was born to James Frederick and Bertha Wilson Groome Adshead in West Didsbury, Manchester, England, on April 25, 1896. Her father inculcated in her a love of reading and openly avowed desire that Adshead would write children's books one day. In 1906, with the birth of her second brother, she concluded at age ten that she wanted to be a teacher for small children. After receiving her degree in England at the Froebel Educational Institute, Roehampton, London in 1916, Adshead taught in British private schools before emigrating to the United States in 1921, receiving her naturalization in 1939. Her teaching career proved eclectic in the United States. She organized the first open-air free nursery school in Baltimore. Outside the classroom she read stories to children in libraries, bookstores, and independent organizations. In her later years Adshead took an increasingly administrative role in education. Adshead identified her writing as getting "inside a child's skin," writing characters identified with the children in her own life. She died June 22, 1985 in Alameda County, California.

From the description of Gladys Lucy Adshead papers, 1937-1965. (University of Oregon Libraries). WorldCat record id: 53148021

Gladys Lucy Adshead, author of numerous twentieth-century children's books as well as a successful teacher and school administrator, seemed destined for a literary vocation from an early age. The eldest child of four, Adshead was born to James Frederick and Bertha Wilson Groome Adshead in West Didsbury, Manchester, England in the rural county of Cheshire, on April 25th, 1896. Her English father proved to be a tremendous influence on her future career path. James inculcated in her a love of reading, exemplified by Adshead's adult recollections of the enjoyment her family gained from Beatrix Potter's stories, as well as her personal appreciation in being of the first generation to experience these works. His parenting brought her to an appreciation of the outdoors in nature walks, as his literary introductions to his favorite verse and authors such as Dickens instilled an esteem in her for books. James's influence proved prophetic in his openly avowed desire that Adshead would herself write children's books one day. Adshead began her authorial career in childhood writing in old exercise books she was later "glad to see disappear."

The second crucial element of Adshead's adult life also appeared early in her development; in 1906 with the birth of her second brother, she concluded at age ten that she wanted to be a teacher for small children. After receiving her degree in England at the Froebel Educational Institute, Roehampton, London in 1916, Adshead taught in British private schools before emigrating to the United States in 1921, receiving her naturalization in 1939. Her teaching career in North America proved eclectic. First settling in Baltimore, Maryland, she organized the first open-air free nursery school, supplementing her contact with children outside of the classroom by reading stories aloud to children in Baltimore public libraries and for the Children's Bookshop, other libraries, and independent organizations from 1921 to 1927. Adshead changed teaching positions in this period, moving to the progressive Park School of Baltimore where she taught first and second grade from 1922 to 1926. In 1927 she further expanded her credentials in teaching an experimental group of five-year-olds at the Beaver school of Boston. This position lasted until 1934, and was concurrent with Adshead's training of apprentice teachers that lasted until 1959. In her later years Adshead took an increasingly administrative role in education, such as her position as head of the lower school at the Buckingham School of Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1943 she was appointed Head of the Lower School of the North Shore Country Day School of Winnetka, Illinois. This position lasted until 1949, when she became Headmistress of the Charles River School of Dover, Massachusetts. The range of Adshead's professional affiliations over her career included charter membership in the Royal Society of Teachers, as well as membership in the Historical Society of Hancock, New Hampshire, the Michaelis Guild, and the position of the Independent School Association of Massachusetts Chairman of Advisory Board Finance for Mason New Hampshire for five years.

During the time of her later career Adshead bought a home in 1943, a 150-year old house on 15 acres of land with extensive wildlife; her friend and collaborator in children's literary publishing, the illustrator Elizabeth Orton Jones, was moved to purchase the twenty-acre farm next door after visiting Adshead's in 1944. Adshead listed her interests in an autobiographical publishing sketch as natural science, photography, travel, classical music, theater, symphonic concerts, walking, snowshoeing, and gardening. She traveled in Great Britain, France, and Switzerland.

Adshead identified her writing as getting "inside a child's skin," writing characters identified with the children in her own life and engaging with an ongoing theme of the importance of taking care of other people. Her retirement citations for work in the fields of children's literature and education proved her favorite traditional honoraria, to which Adshead appended "a poem to me written by three nine-year-olds, which is the nicest tribute of all." She passed away June 22, 1985 in Alameda County, California. Her published works include:

Brownies--Hush! 1938

Something Surprising 1939

Casco, the Little Seal 1943

What Miranda Knew 1944

Seventeen to Sing (with composer George H. Shapiro) 1946

An Inheritance of Poetry (collected and arranged with Annis Duff) 1948

Brownies, It's Christmas 1955

Brownies--Hurry! 1959

Smallest Brownie's Fearful Adventure 1961

Brownies, They're Moving 1971

Where Is Smallest Brownie 1971

Smallest Brownie and the Flying Squirrel 1972

From the guide to the Gladys Lucy Adshead papers, 1937-1965, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries)