With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Hugh Lofting
Children's Literature
1886 – 1947
Lofting’s series featuring Doctor Doolittle were early and beloved novels in the genre of imaginative children’s literature, and have remained in print. Starting with “The Story of Doctor Dolittle” in 1920 and “The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle” which won the Newbery Medal in 1923, he wrote and illustrated a new book every year through 1928.
- Biography/Description of Work
Hugh John Lofting was born in England, and came to America in 1902 to study engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After several years as a civil engineer in Canada, Africa, and Cuba, he settled in New York with the plan of becoming a writer. He wrote for magazines and married Flora Small (1881-1927) in 1912. Their two children were born in the next three years. He served in France during World War I, where he witnessed the suffering of horses and mules used in war work. Saddened, he imagined instead stories about a doctor who spoke with animals and sent them home to his children. His wife, Flora saved the letters, with illustrations done on the backs with scraps of charcoal. In 1920 the letters were the basis of Lofting’s first children’s book, “The Story of Doctor Doolittle,” which was immediately popular. The Loftings moved to River Road in Killingworth in the early 1920s, naming it “Long Meadow.” He worked at his writing mostly during the night-time hours. Not surprisingly, the family had numerous pets, including several dogs and a pony. After Flora’s death in 1927, Lofting remarried, though his second wife died within months. Around 1936, he moved with his third wife and son to California where he wrote several more novels.
- Sources view
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Lofting
Lundberg, C. Historic Resource Inventory form, CT River Estuary Regional Planning Association (CRERPA), 1978.
Killingworth Library archives - periodical clippings re Hugh Lofting. - Associated Resource(s)