Margaret Alexander Edwards
| Margaret A. Edwards | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Margaret Alexander October 23, 1902 Childress, Texas |
| Died | April 19, 1988 |
| Nationality | United States |
| Education | Trinity University, Columbia University |
| Occupation | Librarian |
| Employer | Enoch Pratt Free Library |
| Spouse(s) | Phillip Edwards |
| Parent(s) | Claude and Hadena Crews Alexander |
| Relatives | Helen (sister) |
Margaret Alexander Edwards (October 23, 1902 – April 19, 1988) was an educator and librarian who was at the forefront of the movement for young adult services in the 20th century. She is the namesake of the Margaret Edwards Award for young adult literature.
Margaret Edwards was born in the small farming community of Childress, Texas. She first learned to read using a Wine of Cardui calendar her mother received from a local druggist and she gained further practice by reading passages from a King James Version of the Bible with her sister and her mother on a nightly basis. As a teenager, she attended Trinity University, in Waxahachie, Texas, gaining the education and skills necessary to become a Latin teacher after graduating in 1922. After teaching in Texas for several years, she moved to New York City where she attended Columbia University. In 1928, she received a Master’s Degree in Latin. After almost 10 years of working in libraries, she went on to receive her library degree from Columbia University in 1941.
In 1932, Margaret Edwards was hired by Joseph L. Wheeler, director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland, to begin training as a librarian’s assistant. At that time, library services for young adults were already taking root in other parts of the country, with women like Jean Roos and Mabel Williams heading up the movement. At Enoch Pratt, Edwards's first position, under the direct supervision of Pauline McCauley, involved handling the small collection of young adult fiction tucked away at the back of the Popular materials section. It was there she realized that she needed to have a better knowledge of literature herself if she wanted to cultivate the minds of young people, and she began to read avidly. As she began to develop herself as a reader, she took steps toward building upon the existing collection of young adult titles and, by 1940, she had established YA sections in each of the library’s branches with the assistance of input from high school students who frequented the library.
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