WHAT THE LEAGUES ARE DOING
The National Playground and Recreation Association of America will hold its next annual meeting at Richmond, Virginia, May 6th to 10th.
Miss Anna Tyler of the New York Public Library, recently spoke to the Public School Kindergarten Association on the subject of Story Telling and Children’s Books. The New York Library has thirty-eight branches, and Miss Tyler has charge of the story-telling work in these branches.
Miss Tyler explained how illuminating it was to watch the little ones’ use of books, and how the child was introduced to the right book by seeing pictures in the book and hearing a story told from the book.
The National Story Tellers’ League will hold a conference with members and representatives of all local Leagues this Summer, at the following places: July 19th, at Knoxville, Tenn., in connection with the Summer School of the South. At Chautauqua, N. Y., August 16th, in connection with the Chautauqua Institute. At Parkersburg, West Virginia, June 21st, in connection with the State Teachers’ Association of West Virginia.
The Story Tellers’ League of Philadelphia, a branch of the National League, has for its President, Mr. F. A. Child, Professor of Oral Literature in the University of Pennsylvania. The meeting of March 12th was called “Indian Day.” Primitive tales of Alaskan Indian life, inspired by legends on the Totem Pole, gives one an idea of the subject of the day. Mr. L. V. Shortridge, University of Pennsylvania, dressed in native costume told the stories. He showed the Alaskan territory, with its totem poles, putting his audience in touch with actual conditions from which these folk tales grew. At this meeting teachers, story tellers and leaders of groups of children were invited to bring children with them. Mr. Robert Staton furnished Indian Song.
Philadelphia has one of the largest and most successful Leagues. Its membership numbers something like one hundred people, and it has created a great deal of interest in the city among various classes of teachers and educators as well as lovers of literature.