Editing Elizabeth Gray Vining

{{short description|American writer and librarian (1902-1999)}}
{{Infobox academic
| honorific_prefix   = <!-- see [[MOS:HONOURIFIC]] -->
| name               = Elizabeth Gray Vining
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| image              = Crown Prince Akihito and Elizabeth Gray Vining.JPG
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| caption            = Crown Prince [[Akihito]] and Elizabeth Gray Vining, 1949
| native_name        = 
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| birth_name         = Elizabeth Janet Gray
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1902|10|6|mf=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1999|11|27|1902|10|6|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [[Kennett Square, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_cause        = 
| region             = 
| nationality        = 
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| residence          = 
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = Writer, librarian
| period             = 
| known_for          = Teacher of Emperor [[Akihito]]
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| boards             = <!--board or similar positions extraneous to main occupation-->
| spouse             = {{marriage|Morgan Fisher Vining|1929|1933|end=died}}
| children           = 
| parents            =
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| awards             = [[Newbery Award]] (1943)<!--notable national level awards only-->
| website            = 
| education          = 
| alma_mater         = Germantown Friends School <br> [[Bryn Mawr College]] <br> [[Drexel University]] <br> [[Wilmington College (Ohio)|Wilmington College]]
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| discipline         = <!--major academic discipline – e.g. Physicist, Sociologist, New Testament scholar, Ancient Near Eastern Linguist-->
| sub_discipline     = <!--academic discipline specialist area – e.g. Sub-atomic research, 20th Century Danish specialist, Pauline research, Arcadian and Ugaritic specialist-->
| workplaces         = [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] <br> [[Gakushūin]] <br> [[Tsuda College]] <br> [[Bryn Mawr College]]
| doctoral_students  = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| notable_students   = [[Akihito]] <br> [[Masahito, Prince Hitachi]] <br> [[Kazuko Takatsukasa]] <br> [[Atsuko Ikeda]] <br> [[Takako Shimazu]]
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'''Elizabeth Janet Gray Vining''' (October 6, 1902 – November 27, 1999) was an [[American people|American]] professional [[librarian]] and author who tutored Emperor [[Akihito]] of Japan in [[English language|English]] while he was [[crown prince]]. She was also a noted author, whose children's book ''[[Adam of the Road]]'' received the [[Newbery Medal]] in 1943.

==Early life and education==
Elizabeth Janet Gray was born in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], on October 6, 1902. She was a graduate of [[Germantown Friends School]] and received an AB from [[Bryn Mawr College]] in 1923.{{Cn|date=May 2024}} In 1926, she earned an MS in [[library science]] from the [[Drexel University]], and became a librarian at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]].<ref name=20th>{{cite book|last=Chevalier|first= Tracy|title= 20th-Century Children's Writers, 3rd Edition|year= 1989|publisher=St. James Press|isbn=0-912289-95-3}}</ref>{{rp|1000}} She married Morgan Fisher Vining, associate director of the Extension Division of UNC, in 1929. In 1933, her husband was killed in a New York City automobile accident, and Vining was severely injured. During her convalescence, she converted to the [[Quaker]] faith.

Vining soon became known as an author, primarily of children's books, and was awarded the 1943 Newbery Medal for ''Adam of the Road''.<ref name=newbery>{{cite web|title=Newbery Awards|url=http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal|accessdate=2012-05-15|archive-date=2011-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111024135429/http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal.cfm|url-status=dead}}</ref> She had published eleven books by the end of [[World War II]].

==Private tutor to the Japanese Imperial Family==
From 1946 to 1950 during the [[Occupied Japan|Allied occupation of Japan]] after the war, Vining was selected by Emperor [[Hirohito]] himself<ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Dinitia |date=1999-12-01 |title=Elizabeth Vining, Tutor to a Future Emperor, Dies at 97 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/01/arts/elizabeth-vining-tutor-to-a-future-emperor-dies-at-97.html |work=New York Times |access-date=2019-03-23 }}</ref> (and not the [[United States]] government, as is erroneously claimed) to become a [[private tutor]] to Crown Prince [[Akihito]], the [[heir apparent]] to the [[Chrysanthemum Throne]].<ref name=20th />{{rp|}} As part of her teaching program, she arranged for closely supervised occasions when four Western teenaged boys in [[Tokyo]] would get together to help the crown prince practice English conversation.<ref>Read, Richard. [http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/11/post_20.html "Portlander honored by Japanese emperor for selfless work"], ''The Oregonian'' (Portland). November 4, 2009.</ref> She nicknamed the prince “Jimmy”.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n06/richard-lloyd-parry/akihito-and-the-sorrows-of-japan|title=Richard Lloyd Parry · Akihito and the Sorrows of Japan: The Anxious Emperor · LRB 7 March 2020|last=Parry|first=Richard Lloyd|date=2020-03-07|journal=London Review of Books|volume=42 |issue=6 |language=en|access-date=2020-03-14}}</ref>  ‘His interests in those days were almost entirely confined to fish,’ she wrote later, ‘and I felt they needed broadening.’ The influence of this American pacifist on the young prince was regarded with resentment by right-wing intellectuals; one of them would later complain that Akihito had contracted a spiritual and intellectual ‘fungus’ from his tutor.<ref name=":0" />

In addition to teaching English-language skills, Vining introduced the children of the Imperial Household — [[Masahito, Prince Hitachi|Prince Masahito]] and the Princesses [[Kazuko Takatsukasa|Kazuko]], [[Atsuko Ikeda|Atsuko]] and [[Takako Shimazu|Takako]] — to Western values and culture. She also lectured at [[Gakushūin]] and at [[Tsuda College]].

For her work, she was awarded the [[Order of the Sacred Treasure]], third class, shortly before her return to the United States in 1950.

==Later life==
After her return to the United States, Vining wrote a book about her experiences in Japan in ''[[Windows for the Crown Prince]]'', which appeared in 1952. Vining went on to write over 60 fiction and non-fiction books in her lifetime. She also worked on the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr, as vice-president from 1952 to 1971 and was vice-chairwoman of the board of directors at the same time. In 1954 Vining received the [[Women's National Book Association]] Skinner Award,<ref name=20th />{{rp|1000}} for "meritorious work in her special field".<ref>{{cite web|title=Women's National Book Association|url=http://www.wnba-books.org/la/about-us.html|work=Purpose|publisher=Women's National Book Association: Los Angeles Chapter|accessdate=June 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626071840/http://www.wnba-books.org/la/about-us.html|archive-date=June 26, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> She received an honorary Doctorate of Literature from [[Wilmington College (Ohio)|Wilmington College]] in 1962.

==Honors==
* [[Order of the Sacred Treasure]], 1950
* [[Order of the Precious Crown]]<ref>Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia: [http://jasgp.org/content/view/446/179/  "The Emperor's Tutor."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005111019/http://jasgp.org/content/view/446/179/ |date=2009-10-05 }}</ref>

==Publications==
*''Meredith's Ann'' (1927)
*''Tangle Garden'' (1928)
*''Tilly-Tod'' (1929)
*''[[Meggy MacIntosh]]'' (1930)
*''Jane Hope'' (1933)
*''[[Young Walter Scott]]'' (1935)
*''Beppy Marlowe'' (1936)
*''[[Penn (biography)|Penn]]'' (1938)
*''Contributions of the Quakers'' (1939)
*''The Fair Adventure'' (1940)
*''[[Adam of the Road]]'' (1942)
*''Sandy'' (1945)
*''Windows for the Crown Prince'' (1952)
*''The World in Tune'' (1952)
*''The Virginia Exiles'' (1955)
*''Friend of Life: A Biography of Rufus M. Jones'' (1958)
*''The Cheerful Heart'' (1959)
*''Return to Japan'' (1960)
*''I Will Adventure'' (1962)
*''Take Heed of Loving Me'' (1963)
*''Flora: A Biography'' (1966)
*''I, Roberta'' (1967)
*''Quiet Pilgrimage'' (1970)
*''The Taken Girl'' (1972)
*''Being Seventy: The Measure of a Year'' (1978)
*''Harnessing Pegasus: Inspiration and Meditation'' (1978)
*''Mr. Whittier'' (1974)
*''A Quest There Is'' (1982)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* [[Herbert P. Bix|Bix, Herbert P.]], (2000). ''[[Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan]].'' New York: [[HarperCollins]]. {{ISBN|978-0-06-019314-0}}; {{OCLC|247018161}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Children's literature}}
* Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia: [http://jasgp.org/content/view/446/179/  "The Emperor's Tutor."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005111019/http://jasgp.org/content/view/446/179/ |date=2009-10-05 }}
* [http://www2.gol.com/users/quakers/vining_obituary.htm Quaker Obituaries] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120530140229/http://www2.gol.com/users/quakers/vining_obituary.htm |date=2012-05-30 }}
*[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E0D6113FF932A35751C1A96F958260 New York Times obituary]
*[http://greenfield.brynmawr.edu/items/show/1452 Interview with Elizabeth Gray Vining] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419040742/http://greenfield.brynmawr.edu/items/show/1452 |date=2014-04-19 }} from The Albert M. Greenfield Digital Center for the History of Women's Education
*[http://triarte.brynmawr.edu/PRT39?sid=16623&x=1735225&x=1735226  Elizabeth Gray Vining Collection] from Bryn Mawr College Art and Artifact Collections
* {{LCAuth|n50013464|Elizabeth Gray Vining|40|}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vining, Elizabeth Gray}}
[[Category:American non-fiction children's writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American librarians]]
[[Category:American women librarians]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Japan]]
[[Category:American Quakers]]
[[Category:Bryn Mawr College alumni]]
[[Category:Converts to Quakerism]]
[[Category:Drexel University alumni]]
[[Category:Newbery Medal winners]]
[[Category:Newbery Honor winners]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure]]
[[Category:Order of the Precious Crown members]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Tsuda University]]
[[Category:Germantown Friends School alumni]]
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:20th-century Quakers]]