University of New England - Innovation for a Healthier Planet

Dorothy Simpson collection, 1933-1999

Full finding aid (pdf)

Collection Scope and Content

This collection includes 12 folders of typescript, design and layout for graphics for Maine Islands as well as correspondence, reviews and interviews.

Biographical/Historical Note

Aleda Dorothy Knowlton Simpson was born June 28, 1905 and grew up on Criehaven Island off the coast of Maine. Later in life, she lived on Gay’s Island off Friendship and in Cushing with her longtime companion and well-known Maine author, Elizabeth Ogilvie. During the 1950s and 1960s, Simpson published a number of books for children and young adults, all set on islands off the coast of Maine. After Simpson’s death on December 19, 1998 her niece, also named Dorothy Simpson, published The Island’s True Child: A Memoir of Growing Up on Criehaven (2003), based on Simpson’s unpublished journals dating to 1930.