Historical Illustrator Biography – Theodor Seuss Geisel and Garth Williams

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Illustrator Biography – Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2, 1904. His father worked in the family brewery, Kuhlmbach & Geisel, which locals pronounced, "come back and guzzle” until prohibition. His mother’s maiden name was Seuss. She was the daughter of a baker in Springfield. Seuss had an older sister named Marnie (Kibler, 1987).

His mother, Henrietta Seuss Geisel, according to Ted, often chanted rhymes from her youth to soothe Marnie and him to sleep. Ted claims both his ability and desire to create the rhymes for which he became so well known come from his mother’s influence.

When Seuss was in high school, his art teacher told him he would never draw realistically. After one art lesson, he walked out of the class and never returned. Ted went to Dartmouth College, where he was an editor for Jack-O-Lantern, the college humor magazine. After getting in trouble for drinking gin in his room, Ted began to draw and write under different pseudonyms, including Seuss. Seuss himself claims that he used the name for his humorous essays and drawings, saving the name Geisel for his serious novels (MacDonald, 2004, p. 3). When Seuss became a magazine cartoonist, he began signing his work “Dr. Theophrastus Seuss” in 1927. He shortened that to “Dr. Seuss” in 1937 after his writings in Judge magazine (MacDonald, p. 5), and that is how Ted Geisel became Dr. Seuss.

After graduation, Seuss went to Oxford to pursue a doctorate in English. There he met his first wife Helen Palmer, who encouraged him to draw because he obviously enjoyed that more than he liked English. After Seuss and Helen were married, they moved to New York where he got job...

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Marcus, L. (1990). Garth Williams; his career spanning almost half a century, the artist's illustrations for children's books have become classics. (PW Interviews). Publishers Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-8541967/garth-williams-his-career.html

Seuss, D. (1940). Horton hatches the egg. NY: Random House.

Seuss, D. (1956). If I ran the circus. NY: Random House.

Theodor Seuss Geisel. [A profile of the author’s life and works]. (2004). Contemporary Authors Online. Retrieved from Gale Cengage Learning.

http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2267/itw/infomark/413/294/176380631w16/purl=rc1_CA_0_H1000035836&dyn=3!xrn_1_0_H1000035836?sw_aep=txshracd2679

White, E. B. (1952). Charlotte’s Web. NY: Harper Trophy.

Wilder, L.I. (1939). By the Shores of Silver Lake. NY: Harper Collins.

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