Historical Figures Codexery

Dr. Seuss

The beloved children's author and illustrator behind Dr. Seuss, whose whimsical books have sold over 600 million copies worldwide.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, an American who created children's books, illustrations, animations, and cartoons, entered the world on March 2, 1904, and left it on September 24, 1991.[1] Using the alias Dr. Seuss, he authored and illustrated over 60 books, with total sales exceeding 600 million copies and versions available in more than 20 languages.[2]

Quick Facts

Pen name
Theo LeSieg, Rosetta Stone
Birth name
Theodor Seuss Geisel
Born
2 March 1904
Birthplace
Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died
24 September 1991
Place of death
San Diego, California, U.S.
Education
Dartmouth College (AB); Lincoln College, Oxford
Occupation
  • Children's author
  • political cartoonist
  • illustrator
  • animator

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

He entered Lincoln College, Oxford, for a doctorate in English literature but left without a degree.[3][4] His future wife Helen Palmer encouraged him to pursue drawing instead of teaching.[3] He died of cancer at his La Jolla home on September 24, 1991.[5] Springfield, Massachusetts was the birthplace and childhood home of Geisel, whose father managed a brewery and later oversaw the city's public parks.[6]

In 1925, Geisel finished his studies at Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon and served as editor for the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern humor magazine.[7] The Saturday Evening Post featured his first cartoon with national distribution in its July 16, 1927, edition.[8] Widespread recognition came to him through the Flit insecticide ads; the phrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" became a well-known part of the culture.[9][10]

What the cited sources add

Audrey Geisel, who married Ted in 1968, served as president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises and oversaw the Seuss legacy.[11] Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced on March 2, 2021, that it would stop publishing six books that "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong"[12] Geisel threatened to sue an anti-abortion group in the 1980s for using that phrase on its stationery.[13] The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, established by U.S. children's librarians, is given annually to the most distinguished American book for beginning readers; the first committee was appointed in fall 2004.[14]

Among the six books that Dr. Seuss Enterprises stopped publishing in 2021 are And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and If I Ran the Zoo.[12] Since the 1980s, certain anti-abortion groups have adopted the phrase "a person's a person no matter how small" from Horton Hears a Who! as a slogan for their cause.[13]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "How to Mispronounce "Dr. Seuss"", February 6, 2013; "Seuss" . Random House Unabridged Dictionary.; pronunciation of "Geisel" and "Seuss" in the Webster's Dictionary; "About the Author, Dr. Seuss, Seussville" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: pronunciation of "Geisel" and "Seuss" in the Webster's Dictionary; "Seuss on New Zealand TV, 1964", March 2, 2016; Bernstein, "Unforgettable Dr. Seuss", 1992, p. 192 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pace, "Dr. Seuss, Modern Mother Goose, Dies at 87", The New York Times, September 26, 1991; "Famous Lincoln Alumni", Lincoln College, Oxford; Pace, "Dr. Seuss, Modern Mother Goose, Dies at 87", The New York Times, September 26, 1991 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Morgan (1995), p. 57; Pease (2010), pp. 41–42 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pace, "Dr. Seuss, Modern Mother Goose, Dies at 87", The New York Times, September 26, 1991; Gorman, "Theodor Geisel Dies at 87; Wrote 47 Dr. Seuss Books, Author: His last new work, 'Oh, the Places You'll Go!' has proved popular with executives as well as children", Los Angeles Times, September 26, 1991 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mandeville Special Collections Library, "The Dr. Seuss Collection", UC San Diego; Geisel, "Theodor Seuss Geisel The Early Works of Dr. Seuss", Checker Book Publishing Group, 2005, p. 6; Springfield (Mass.), "Municipal register of the city of Springfield (Mass.)", 1912; "Who Knew Dr. Seuss Could Brew?", Narragansett Beer, December 17, 2009; "Mulberry Street", Seuss in Springfield, March 17, 2015; Pease, "Dr. Seuss in Ted Geisel's Never-Never Land", PMLA, 2011, p. 197–202; Scholl, "Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 2, en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Minear (1999), p. 9.; Mandeville Special Collections Library, "The Dr. Seuss Collection", UC San Diego; Mandeville Special Collections Library, "The Dr. Seuss Collection", UC San Diego; Nell, "Impertient Questions", Humanities, March–April 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cohen (2004), pp. 72–73; Morgan (1995), pp. 59–62 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cohen (2004), p. 83; Morgan (1995), p. 65 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Dr. Seuss" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pease (2010), pp. 48–49 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. "Dartmouth Names Medical School in Honor of Audrey and Theodor Geisel", Geisel School of Medicine, April 4, 2012. facts only, no text reused. geiselmed.dartmouth.edu
  12. Feldman, "Six Dr. Seuss books to stop being published over 'hurtful and wrong' portrayals", New York Daily News, March 2, 2021. facts only, no text reused. nydailynews.com
  13. Baram, "Horton's Who: The Unborn?", ABC News, March 17, 2008. facts only, no text reused. abcnews.go.com
  14. "Welcome to the (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award home page!" . ALSC. ALA.<br /> &nbsp; "Theodor Seuss Geisel Award" . ALSC. ALA. Retrieved June 17, 2013.. facts only, no text reused. ala.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Dr. Seuss (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

More in Notable Figures

Arthur MillerIsaac AsimovJorge Luis BorgesHenryk SienkiewiczElie WieselFyodor DostoevskyAnton ChekhovBoris PasternakAleksandr SolzhenitsynFernando PessoaCharles BaudelaireAlbert Camus

Elsewhere in Historical Figures

Thomas Gainsborough · Artists & ComposersAkio Morita · Explorers & BusinessJ. E. B. Stuart · Rulers & LeadersAdam Weishaupt · Scientists & InventorsAli Daei · Sports FiguresRudolph Valentino · Writers & Journalists

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →