In Memoriam - Peter Neumeyer
“ Children are a third of our world's population, and what they read is of some importance.” Peter Neumeyer, from his oral history
The faculty and staff of the University Library were saddened to learn of the recent death of San Diego State University Professor Emeritus Peter Neumeyer. He was a professor of English and Comparative Literature from 1978 until his retirement in 1993, after academic appointments at Harvard University, Stony Brook University, and the University of West Virginia.
At SDSU, Neumeyer co-founded the National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature to offer children’s literature courses to give K-12 teachers a foundation in literary studies. His approach was inspired by International Youth Library founder Jela Lepman’s philosophy that “children’s and young adult books are an essential part of the cultural life of a society and a country.”
In continuing support for the Library’s children’s literature collection, Neumeyer and his wife, Helen, donated hundreds of fine children’s books from their personal library to the University Library, many of which remain at the core of the children’s literature collection. Neumeyer’s collaboration with renowned artist Edward Gorey was also essential to SDSU’s acquisition of the Edward Gorey Personal Library.
Neumeyer published extensively on children's literature topics, especially the work of E.B. White, including The Annotated Charlotte's Web (1994). Outside of academia, Neumeyer collaborated with Gorey on three books in the “Donald” series. He was also a poet and published numerous poems in literary journals. After retiring from SDSU, Neumeyer became a prolific reviewer of children's books for various publications. In 2005, he received the Children's Literature Association's Anne Deveraux Jordan Award for his contributions to the field.
"I will really miss Peter and his heartfelt calls and emails over the years to talk about the Gorey collection and the children's collection and to share news of his current projects. I was indeed fortunate to have him as a reader/commenter for my writing about Gorey and children's literature,” said Gorey/Children's Literature Librarian Linda Salem. ”Friends from the Edward Gorey House and from the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust have been in touch this week to express their sadness at this news."
To learn more about Neumeyer, listen to his oral history, where he remembers growing up Jewish in Nazi Germany and his education at the University of California, Berkeley. The second half of his oral history documents his time at SDSU, the genesis of the children's literature program, the Green Tiger Press, and his contributions to children's literature, including his collaboration with Edward Gorey.
Further exploration is available through the Peter F. Neumeyer Papers collection in Special Collections and University Archives. The collection documents Neumeyer's professional and academic career, beginning as a student and ending as a critic. The papers date from 1950, when Neumeyer was an undergraduate, to 2004, when he and his wife Helen co-curated an exhibition on illustrator Margot Zemach. The bulk of the papers are from the 1970s through the 1990s when Neumeyer was a professor and actively published academic articles, reviews, and poetry.
Scott Walter, Dean of the University Library (and a former children’s literature librarian), remembered his excitement when he learned of the Gorey Personal Library when he came to the university, as well as his first meeting with Professor Neumeyer during his first year at SDSU: “I knew Peter Neumeyer primarily through his collaboration with Gorey, and examples of both their books and illustrations can be found in my office today, but it has been a pleasure over the past few years to learn more about SDSU’s approach to the study (and practice) of children’s literature and to gain a greater appreciation for Peter’s contributions to the field. He will be missed.”
