Anna Gertrude Hall
Anna Gertrude Hall was an influential American librarian and author, born in the 1880s in New York to a farming family. She pursued higher education at Leland Stanford Junior University in California, where she began her library career by cataloging materials in the university library in 1906. After eight years, Hall returned to New York and worked at the Endicott Free Library while attending the New York State Library School, from which she graduated with a bachelor's degree in library science in 1916. Her career spanned various roles in libraries and education, including positions at the New York State Department of Education and libraries in Oregon and California. Hall was also a writer, contributing nonfiction works for both children and adults. Notably, her children's biography "Nansen," published in 1940, received a Newbery Honor citation in 1941, highlighting her impact in children's literature. Her final book, "Cyrus Holt and the Civil War," was released in 1964, marking the end of her literary contributions.
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Anna Gertrude Hall
Writer
- Born: February 9, 1882
- Birthplace: West Bloomfield, New York
- Died: February 8, 1967
Biography
Anna Gertrude Hall was born in the 1880’s in New York to a farming family. In 1906, she attended Leland Stanford Junior University in California. That same year, she started working at Stanford in the library preparing the catalog. She held this position with the library for eight years.
In 1915, Hall returned to her native New York, where she worked for the Endicott Free Library. At the same time Hall attended the New York State Library School, from which she earned her bachelor’s degree in library science in 1916. Hall later took positions working numerous jobs, including at the New York State Department of Education; the county library of Pendleton, Oregon; the Longview Public Library; and the Palo Alto Medical Clinic.
Aside from her work with different libraries and schools, Hall had a modest career as a writer of nonfiction books for children and adults alike. In 1937, Hall published The Library Trustee, an educational work. A few years later, in 1940, Hall released Nansen, a children’s biography of Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer. The critically acclaimed Nansen earned Hall a Newbery Honor citation in 1941. Hall’s final book, Cyrus Holt and the Civil War, another children’s biography, was released in 1964.