Who had a birthday today?

Elmer Hader, a children's author of some reknown, was born this day in 1889. He and his wife Berta wrote and illustrated "The Big Snow" (the Caldecott winner in 1949).

I saw his birthday on an Author Calendar. I looked for Elmer Hader in Book Index with Reviews and also in NoveList. The books he wrote/illustrated are listed but I was having trouble finding a biography for him. I went to Google - you can tell I was desperate- 612 sites came up by using "Elmer Hader" biography of Elmer Hader- I was trying to reduce the number of hits. Nothing was clearly marked as a free biograpgy- I could pay for some information.

Where else could I look- for free?

I went back to GALILEO (our Georgia tax dollars have already paid for this) and skimmed the list Databases A-Z till it hit me- a basic reference source is the encyclopedia!

In Encyclopedia Britannica- there was the biography I was looking for.
Here's a portion..."Elmer Stanley Hader was born on Sept. 7, 1889, in Pajaro, Calif. He received art training in San Francisco and Paris, the latter excursion financed by three years of touring on a vaudeville circuit. His budding career as a painter was interrupted by World War I, and he served in the United States Army Camouflage Corps."

There's a wonderful resource at the bottom of each article in Encyclopedia Britannica online...how to do the citation for that article in APA and MLA style!

I must remember that the basic reference sources are the best for getting quick general reliable information!

The password for home use of GALILEO is available to the citizens of Georgia from your librarian. Some resources noted in this BLOG are only available to NMTC patrons.