Dorothy Pulis Lathrop (1891-1980) was an artist and illustrator from Albany, New York. She was renowned for her children’s book illustrations, in particular for Hitty: Her first Hundred Years and Animals of the Bible. The former won the Newbery Medal in 1930. Animals of the Bible, with stories compiled by Helen Dean Fish, won the very first Caldecott Medal in 1938.
For the Hitty book, Dorothy created multiple illustrations, but only three were in color. The first was a frontispiece showing Hitty’s Daguerreotype photo. The second featured Hitty on an island in the South Seas, being worshipped as an idol. The third depicted Hitty lying among tree roots, near a bullfrog.
Now that the book is in the public domain, these color plates can be shared. I scanned in the images from the book, then enhanced and sharpened them. Each image now fits on an 8.5” x 11” page. You are welcome to download the .pdf file and print as many copies as you like. I recommend printing the pages on cardstock or a heavy weight paper such as Epson Premium Matte Presentation Paper.
Click here to download the color plates from the Hitty book!
Dorothy’s ability to capture the essence of a character with a few strokes of her pen made her drawings stand out. Without Dorothy’s contributions to the Hitty book, Rachel Field’s prose would have been less convincing. Dorothy’s illustrations actually made us believe a doll like Hitty could have adventures.
You can see from the way Dorothy looks at Hitty in this photo that they had a special relationship. This is a colorized version of a black and white photo from the archives of the Stockbridge Library. I used the original version in this post about Hitty in “The Antique Shop.”
Dorothy would have been in her late 30s when this was taken. In the photo, Hitty is wearing the Floral Dress, made by Dorothy when her original brown sprig dress became too fragile to wear. I combined multiple color photos of Hitty (along with a photo of the floral dress taken by Julie Old Crow in 2013), to make a color version.
These days, Hitty rarely leaves the Stockbridge Library, but twenty years ago in 2006, she traveled to the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art (formerly Brandywine River Museum) in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Hitty was part of an exhibit titled Flora, Fauna, and Fantasy: The Art of Dorothy Lathrop. The exhibit showcased 120 examples of Dorothy’s artwork, most of which had never been on display before. It ran from March 25 to May 21, 2006. On September 16, it moved to the Albany Institute of History and Art. I do not know if Hitty was also sent there, but I suspect she was.
The museum published a booklet about the exhibit which contained essays about Dorothy’s life, written by Anne Roberts, Virginia O’Hara and Charles Semowich. Dorothy began her career by illustrating children’s books. The subject matter included fairies and talking monkeys. It seems a very short step from that to a story about a talking doll. But fantasy alone didn’t make the story believable. It was Dorothy’s love of realism which took Hitty’s adventures to a new level.
After graduating from high school, Dorothy studied at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1910. The curriculum introduced her to Japanese art, emphasizing the importance of composition and asymmetry. She later received training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. While there, she studied illustration in 1915-16 under Henry McCarter, who was an Art Nouveau devotee. Dorothy’s flowing lines and organic, fanciful designs clearly reflected the Art Nouveau style. But Dorothy was also inspired by other children’s illustrators of the time, like Howard Pyle.
Over the next forty-plus years, Dorothy illustrated many children’s books, including some of her own. She always tried to push the boundaries of the printing process. During the depression, publishers had little money for children’s books. The high-quality printing methods needed to reproduce Dorothy’s work proved too expensive. So Dorothy mastered new techniques to achieve better results. To get subtle shading in her illustrations, Dorothy started using lithographic pencil on paper. She also learned the art of engraving with woodblock prints. She even helped found the Print Club of Albany in 1933.
This 1942 self-portrait is one of Dorothy’s woodblock engravings, entitled “Jaspa and Me.” It is part of the collection of the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art. The image was used on the book jacket of Mr. Bumps and His Monkey by Walter de la Mare. Dorothy kept a real monkey as a model for her book illustrations.
Dorothy was a shrewd businesswoman in a time when men were in control of the publishing world. Sadly, illustrators of her era were considered inferior to fine artists. Even today, narrative art and illustration is not valued as highly as “art for art’s sake.” I doubt she ever made much money from her endeavors. Many years later, Dorothy’s achievements were all but forgotten. Her eyesight had failed in the 1960s, limiting her ability to work.
Dorothy lived with her sister Gertrude, who was a successful sculptor in her own right. Neither one of them ever married or had children. They poured all their energy into their careers. Dorothy died at age 89 on December 30, 1980, at her home in Falls Village, Connecticut. When Gertrude died six years later, their lifetime of work was taken to the town dump. What a shame!
Sadly, it seems to me that HItty is also in danger of being forgotten. Hitty is a doll with elements of fantasy and a love of adventure. But she is also a bridge to the past. This combination is what makes Hitty so appealing to me, and I believe she can still appeal to the next generation. That is why my mission is to keep Dorothy Lathrop and Rachel Field’s story alive with Flat HItty. I hope they would be proud to know that their work is still finding new admirers after all these years.
Recently, Flat Hitty visited Ancesotor Hitty in the Stockbridge Library and asked her about Dorothy Lathrop’s exhibit. Here is the response, in Hitty’s own words:
It has been 20 years since I traveled to Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania to attend the retrospective exhibition of Dorothy Lathrop’s artwork. I rarely leave the Stockbridge Library anymore, but in the early years after Rachel Field published my memoirs, I made frequent trips all over the country to help her promote the book. I can vividly recall my first time on an airplane with Rachel Field in 1930, when we flew to California to accept the Newbery Medal.
After Rachel died, I lived with Dorothy but kept a low profile. Many years later, after Dorothy passed away, I became popular again. I was donated to the Stockbridge Library by a distant relation of Dorothy’s. Suddenly, everyone wanted to visit me in person and learn all about my history with Rachel Field and Dorothy Lathrop.
While I was in the Chadds Ford exhibit, I saw many faces staring at me through the glass case. But one lady in particular stood out in my memory. Her name was Pat Fifer, and I had seen her before at the Stockbridge Library. She came with her husband Bill to visit me there twice in 1996. Pat spent hours looking at all my clothing and taking notes [see “Hitty’s Clothes”].
Pat explained at that time how she and Bill had plans to make wooden dolls like me for collectors. Bill took all of my measurements and photographed me from every angle. I was amazed to discover that people cared so much about my story that they wanted a doll of their very own!
Imagine my surprise when, ten years later, Pat and Bill Fifer both appeared at the Brandywine River Museum to see Dorothy’s exhibit. It was such a treat to see them again!
Courtesy of Bill Fifer.
Dorothy was a dear friend, and I felt proud to be a part of the exhibit displaying her work. She often remarked how patient I was as a model, even when posing next to a cobra [see “A Test of Hitty’s Pegs and Patience”].
If you have read my book, you know that I lived in Pennsylvania for many years. I first traveled there from India with Little Thankful, when she went to live with her grandparents in Philadelphia. It was such a disappointment when she stuffed me into the corner of a couch, because she was ashamed of my appearance. My life was full of such unfortunate moments, but no matter what happened, I always believed that brighter days were ahead.
Eventually, I was rescued by a young Quaker girl named Clarissa Pryce. While living with her, I went to see Adelina Patti sing. Another highlight was posing for a Daguerreotype portrait, paid for by Clarissa’s grandfather. Taking that early photograph seemed like such a momentous event: quite a contrast to the casual way people snap photos with their phones in the present day.
Courtesy of Alice Swann.
I loved being a part of Flora, Fauna, and Fantasy: The Art of Dorothy Lathrop. It was a treat to see so many new faces as well as a few old friends. Although my traveling days seem to be behind me, I am pleased that Flat Hitty will continue my legacy. She has already appeared in two new storybooks about my life. Her latest project involved modeling all my clothing in the Stockbridge Library as a paper doll. I can’t wait to see what she will think of next.
Sources:
Field, Rachel. Hitty: Her First Hundred Years. The Macmillan Company, October 1943.
Lathrop, Dorothy P. “A Test of Hitty’s Pegs and Patience.” The Horn Book Magazine. Vol. 6, Issue 1, pp. 27-30.
Roberts, Anne et al. Exhibition Booklet for Flora, Fauna, and Fantasy: The Art of Dorothy Lathrop. Brandywine River Museum, Chadd Fords, Pennsylvania. 2006.
