Photograph of Dr. Lena Y. de Grummond presenting the USM Medallion to E. H. Shepard at his home in Sussex, England.

One hundred years ago, A. A. Milne published Winnie-the-Pooh, illustrated by E. H. Shepard. Born in 1879, Shepard was an artist from an early age, and his parents—an architect and the daughter of a distinguished watercolor painter—encouraged him in his pursuit of art as a career. He exhibited paintings in such places as the Royal Academy and worked for several magazines. After serving in the British artillery in World War I, he began working for the popular Punch magazine. His prowess as an illustrator won him a new direction for this work: illustrating children’s books.

The first of these books was A. A. Milne’s When We Were Very Young, published in 1924. It was in these pages that the bear we came to know as Winnie-the-Pooh appeared under the name Mr. Edward Bear. Though the original name changed, the character remained the same silly old bear when he appeared in 1926 in Winnie-the-Pooh, in Now We Are Six (1927), and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). After his success with Pooh, Shepard went on to illustrate and even write several other books, and he eventually had the opportunity to illustrate his favorite book, The Wind in the Willows, in 1969.

The year 1969 was special for another reason as well: it was the year that the University of Southern Mississippi began awarding medallions to authors and illustrators for their “distinguished service to children’s literature.” Lois Lenski received the first medallion in 1969, and Shepard was selected as the next recipient.

On December 10, 1969, Shepard celebrated his 90th birthday. Due to his age and fragile health, he was unable to make the international trip to accept his medallion at the third annual Children’s Book Festival at USM. After months of correspondence with Dr. Lena Y. de Grummond and other librarians at USM, to create the medallion using Shepard’s illustrations, de Grummond set off to England to present the medallion to Shepard in person at his home in Sussex, England.

The photograph here was taken during that memorable visit, along with a few other black and white photos, one of which appeared on the first page of the first issue of the de Grummond Collection’s newsletter, Juvenile Miscellany. Though the visit occurred on a sunny Wednesday, April 8th, Shepard wears a quilted jacket and a fur hat. In each of the photos, Shepard’s second wife, Norah, stands between Shepard and de Grummond, witnessing the presentation with a smile on her face. Dr. de Grummond returned immediately to attend the Friday start of the book festival.

The 1970 festival also had something special in store for de Grummond. On the second day of the festival, then-USM head librarian Dr. Warren G. Tracy announced that the newly created children’s collection would officially carry the name of de Grummond: an honor bestowed on Dr. de Grummond for her incredible work of founding the collection, reaching out to hundreds of authors and illustrators, and helping with the creation of both the festival and the medallion.

Source: Correspondence file for DG0886, the E. H. Shepard Papers.

Text by Karlie Herndon, Curator of the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection.

This photograph is part of the de Grummond Photograph Collection. To find out more about the E.H. Shepard Papers, the Photograph Collection, or other collections at de Grummond, contact Karlie at karlie.herndon@usm.edu or 601-266-4086.