Lillian MORRISON
Lillian Morrison, who died on January 27, 2014, was born and grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. She earned a bachelor’s degree, Phi Beta Kappa, as a math major at Rutgers University in 1939. After a chance encounter with a friend who told her the Library was hiring, she began working as a clerk at 42nd Street. She found she loved working there, surrounded by books and by people who loved them and were so knowledgeable. She enrolled at Columbia University to get her library degree, working two nights a week and going to school three nights a week. The only opening available when she graduated was a young adult position, and she found she liked working with teenagers. One of her favorite early positions was at the Aguilar Branch, where the third floor had been turned into a “Teen Canteen,” based on the canteens created for service men during World War II. Other positions included stints at 67th Street and Seward Park, Vocational School Specialist, Branch Librarian at Kingsbridge, Assistant Young Adult Coordinator (working with Margaret Scoggin), and Coordinator of Young Adult Services from 1966 until her retirement in 1982. She also served as a lecturer at both Rutgers and Columbia Universities.
As a child, Lillian developed an interest in poetry from playing rhyming games such as jump rope and patty cake with her friends and later became enchanted with the autograph rhymes introduced to her by teens in the branch libraries. She was particularly interested in folk rhymes, outdoor sports, dance, jazz, and film, saying, "I love rhythms, the body movement implicit in poetry, explicit in sports--I am drawn to athletes, dancers, drummers, jazz musicians, who transcend misery and frustration and symbolize for us something joyous, ordered, and possible in life." (Fromwww.goodreads.com) She wanted to share her love of poetry by making it fun and accessible for children and teens, and she did this as a published author. Among her books are Yours Till Niagara Falls, Ghosts of Jersey City, Guess Again!: Riddle Poems, and The Sidewalk Racer, and other Poems of Sports and Motion. Her poetry for adults includes the book A Good Catch for the Universe: Poems on Growing Older, and she contributed poems to many magazines including Prairie Schooner, Sports Illustrated, and Atlantic. She was also the general editor for two Crowell series publications, Poems of the World and Crowell Poets.
Lillian was recognized as the recipient of the American Library Association's Grolier Award in 1987 for her contributions to stimulating the interests of young people through reading, and she inspired many teens and young adult librarians during her almost fifty years at The New York Public Library. She is survived by two nephews, and a grand nephew. One of her final poems will be published in the NYPL Retirees Association spring Newsletter.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 38, page 9
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 34, page 1, 7, 21.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 33, page 23, 24.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 32, page 5.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 8, page 2.
Lillian Morrison, who died on January 27, 2014, was born and grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. She earned a bachelor’s degree, Phi Beta Kappa, as a math major at Rutgers University in 1939. After a chance encounter with a friend who told her the Library was hiring, she began working as a clerk at 42nd Street. She found she loved working there, surrounded by books and by people who loved them and were so knowledgeable. She enrolled at Columbia University to get her library degree, working two nights a week and going to school three nights a week. The only opening available when she graduated was a young adult position, and she found she liked working with teenagers. One of her favorite early positions was at the Aguilar Branch, where the third floor had been turned into a “Teen Canteen,” based on the canteens created for service men during World War II. Other positions included stints at 67th Street and Seward Park, Vocational School Specialist, Branch Librarian at Kingsbridge, Assistant Young Adult Coordinator (working with Margaret Scoggin), and Coordinator of Young Adult Services from 1966 until her retirement in 1982. She also served as a lecturer at both Rutgers and Columbia Universities.
As a child, Lillian developed an interest in poetry from playing rhyming games such as jump rope and patty cake with her friends and later became enchanted with the autograph rhymes introduced to her by teens in the branch libraries. She was particularly interested in folk rhymes, outdoor sports, dance, jazz, and film, saying, "I love rhythms, the body movement implicit in poetry, explicit in sports--I am drawn to athletes, dancers, drummers, jazz musicians, who transcend misery and frustration and symbolize for us something joyous, ordered, and possible in life." (Fromwww.goodreads.com) She wanted to share her love of poetry by making it fun and accessible for children and teens, and she did this as a published author. Among her books are Yours Till Niagara Falls, Ghosts of Jersey City, Guess Again!: Riddle Poems, and The Sidewalk Racer, and other Poems of Sports and Motion. Her poetry for adults includes the book A Good Catch for the Universe: Poems on Growing Older, and she contributed poems to many magazines including Prairie Schooner, Sports Illustrated, and Atlantic. She was also the general editor for two Crowell series publications, Poems of the World and Crowell Poets.
Lillian was recognized as the recipient of the American Library Association's Grolier Award in 1987 for her contributions to stimulating the interests of young people through reading, and she inspired many teens and young adult librarians during her almost fifty years at The New York Public Library. She is survived by two nephews, and a grand nephew. One of her final poems will be published in the NYPL Retirees Association spring Newsletter.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 38, page 9
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 34, page 1, 7, 21.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 33, page 23, 24.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 32, page 5.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 8, page 2.