Louise Seaman Bechtel

Louise Seaman Bechtel
Born	Louise Seaman June 29, 1894 Brooklyn, New York
Died	April 12, 1985 Mount Kisco, New York
Education	Vassar College
Occupation	Editor, critic, author, teacher
Spouse(s)	Edwin DeTurck Bechtel

Louise Seaman Bechtel (1894 – April 12, 1985) was an American editor, critic, author, and teacher of young children.

Bechtel graduated from Vassar College in 1915 and was the first person to head a juvenile book department established by an American publishing house. During her fifteen-year tenure as managing editor at the Macmillan Company (1919–1934), she oversaw production of more than 600 new books, a milestone in the growth and development of American literature for children.

Bechtel resigned from Macmillan Company in 1934 because of a broken hip, but continued her involvement in the field of children's literature. Between 1949 and 1956, she was editor of the "Books for Young People" section of the New York Herald Tribune.

Three of the books she published, The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly in 1929, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field in 1930, and The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth in 1931, were awarded the Newbery Medal. As an author, Bechtel's best-known books are The Brave Bantam in 1946, and Mr. Peck's Pets in 1947.

During her long career, Bechtel acquired an incomparable collection of children's books. Later donated to Vassar College and the University of Florida in Gainesville), it exceeded 3,500 volumes, among them rare folk tales, Asian and African legends, Greek mythology, Aesop's fables, tales from Shakespeare, and early twentieth century children's book illustrators such as Arthur Rackham, Kate Greenaway, and Boris Artzybasheff.

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