{"id":61863,"date":"2020-09-24T13:23:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T17:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=61863"},"modified":"2020-09-24T13:23:56","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T17:23:56","slug":"on-this-day-dr-seuss-beloved-childrens-author-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/on-this-day-dr-seuss-beloved-childrens-author-died.html","title":{"rendered":"On This Day: Dr. Seuss, Beloved Children\u2019s Author, Died"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is the anniversary of the death of Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. \u201cDr. Seuss\u201d (1904-1991), who died on 24 September 1991 at the age of 87.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Theodor Seuss Geisel (\u201cDr. Seuss\u201d), World Telegram & Sun photo by Al Ravenna, 4 April 1957. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a long and varied career, Theodor Geisel was a novelist, poet, illustrator, and cartoonist. He also was involved in various aspects of filmmaking, finding success as a screenwriter, animator, and filmmaker. He used those talents for the U.S. Army during WWII, and shortly after the war co-wrote (with his wife Helen Palmer Geisel) the film Design for Death<\/em> about historical and cultural forces in Japan that led to its involvement in the war. The 1947 film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1948.<\/p>\n

However, Geisel was best known as \u201cDr. Seuss,\u201d the American author and illustrator of beloved children\u2019s books. His vivid imagination, crazy rhymes, and colorful illustrations graced more than 60 children\u2019s books, creating such enduring characters as \u201cThe Cat in the Hat\u201d and \u201cHorton\u201d the elephant. Generations of American children grew up learning to read from such classics as The Cat in the Hat<\/em>, Green Eggs and Ham<\/em>, and Horton Hears a Who!<\/em> \u2013 books that are still popular and read by children today.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 24 September 1965, page 93<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this obituary, published two days after Geisel\u2019s death, we learn how the wild animals that peopled his imagination and stories came from his childhood experiences in the zoo.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 26 September 1991, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Seuss\u2019s obituary states:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world of Geisel\u2019s imagination was nourished by his childhood visits to the zoo in Springfield, Mass. He was born in Springfield on March 4, 1904, the son of Theodor R. Geisel, the superintendent of parks, and Henrietta Seuss Geisel.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuperintendent Geisel, the son of an \u00e9migr\u00e9 German cavalry officer who founded a brewery in Springfield, expanded the zoo and liked to show it off to his son.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018I used to hang around there a lot,\u2019 Geisel recalled in an interview. \u2018They\u2019d let me in the cage with the small lions and the small tigers, and I got chewed up every once in a while.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can find birth notices, marriage announcements, and obituaries in newspapers, of course \u2013 but you can find so much more: you can find the stories of our ancestors\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n

For example, in 1974 the journalist Jack Webb visited Theodor Geisel at his home in La Jolla, California.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 14 September 1974, page 21<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Webb found that, every day, neighborhood children came knocking on the door to visit their friend \u201cDr. Seuss\u201d:<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 14 September 1974, page 21<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Webb also wrote about the character of the man he came to interview:<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 14 September 1974, page 21<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here are a few excerpts from some of Dr. Seuss\u2019 books.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 26 September 1991, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> Just as an online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, tell the stories of Dr. Seuss\u2019 life, they can tell you stories about your ancestors that can\u2019t be found anywhere else. Come look today and see what you can discover!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the anniversary of the death of Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. \u201cDr. Seuss\u201d (1904-1991), who died on 24 September 1991 at the age of 87.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13075],"tags":[20767,4997,2020,4995],"class_list":["post-61863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books-authors","tag-books-and-authors","tag-dr-seuss","tag-newspaper-archives","tag-theodor-seuss-geisel"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/photo-0924-2020-featured-graphic-dr.-seuss.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61863"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61899,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61863\/revisions\/61899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}