Dorothy Canfield Fisher was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early 20th century. She was a woman who strongly supported racial equality, women's rights, and lifelong education. Dorothy was born as Dorthea Francis Canfield on February 17, 1879 in Lawrence Kansas. Her father was the president of the Ohio State University and librarian at Columbia University, while her mother was an artist and writer. Her first book was a co-written book with G. R. Carpenter from Columbia University and it was called
English Rhetoric and Composition and was published in 1906. Dorothy was the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Dartmouth College and received many more in her lifetime, including one from the University of Vermont.
In 1907, she married John Redwood Fisher and in the same year inherited her great-grandfather's farm in Arlington, Vermont. and had a daughter and son. Around 1911 or 1912, Canfield Fisher visited the "children's houses" in Rome that were established by Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and educator. She was so impressed by Montessori's theories, when she returned home, she translated Montessori's book into English and wrote 5 of her own books: 3 non-fiction and 2 novels.
During World War I, Dorothy followed her husband to France, and while raising her young children in Paris, she worked to establish a Braille press for blinded veterans. She also established a home for refugee French children from the invaded areas. During this time, she earned appreciation from Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the First Lady of the Republic of China at the time, the government of Denmark, and Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1919, Dorothy was appointed to the State Board Education of Vermont to help improve the rural public education system. She was the first woman to be on the board. She spent many years promoting education and rehabilitation/reform, especially for women's prisons.
Throughout all her experiences, she continued to write books, and in her lifetime, wrote 22 novels and 18 non-fiction books. For her novels and works of fiction, she wrote under the pen name "Dorothy Canfield" and for her non-fiction books wrote under "Dorothy Canfield Fisher". She collaborated with many authors, including long-time friend Willa Cather, Richard Wright, Heywood Broun, Witter Bynner. Isak Dinesin, and Robert Frost. She is known in Vermont well because of her work on the Board of Education and also, Vermont was the setting of several of her books. She was also the founder pf the first adult education program.
The well-known Dorothy Canfield Fisher (DCF) Children's Award was first awarded in 1957, one year before Dorothy's death. The award was created to honor quality children's literature for now over 50 years. Each spring, a committee of eight selects 30 books to make up the DCF Master List. They then let the children decide. After reading at least 5 books from the list, students vote for their favorite titles the following spring. The winning author is invited to visit Vermont to speak with children about the experience of writing the book and the book itself.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher died on November 8, 1958 in her beloved Arlington, Vermont at the age of 79. She was one of the country's favorite novelists and women because of all her good work.
