On display now, is an opportunity to “Meet Harriet Evatt”, Worthington author, illustrator and artist in our newest display at the Worthington Room in the Old Worthington Library. Prodigious author of young children’s books as well as chapter books for youth, she was known for her engaging and creative stories that drew on what she loved best. She said, “I like to write and draw and you can do both in children’s books, that’s why I write for youngsters”; her creative successes continued through her adult life until her death in 1963 at the age of 91.

During her life as “Worthington’s authoress” as she became known, Harriet Evatt wrote poetry, articles for magazines, and worked in watercolor and oil paints to make portraits and genre paintings. With her husband, she collected antiques for their home at 74 East Kanawha, and she said that The Secret of the Old Corner Cupboard was inspired by her own corner cupboard. A key to her success was Mrs. Evatt’s prized curly maple “story-writing” desk, once owned by the Chase family, and it is central to her Worthington-set book The Secret of the Old Coach Inn. The Griswold Inn “conjured up adventure” in the book, although it was located on a river and a stop on the Underground Railway to incorporate many threads of Worthington lore.

Read more about Harriet and view some reproductions of her paintings on display now in the lower level of the Old Worthington Library, 820 High Street.