Adelia B. (Adelia Belle) Beard

Born in 1857 in Ohio, Adelia Belle Beard became an American writer, illustrator, and designer whose books encouraged girls to be active, inventive, and confident. She often worked with her sister Lina Beard, and together they created guides full of games, crafts, outdoor projects, and practical skills.

Their best-known collaboration, The American Girls' Handy Book (first published in 1887), gathered a wide range of activities for different seasons and helped define a more energetic, self-reliant style of fun for girls. The sisters also wrote books such as New Ideas for Work and Play and Indoor and Outdoor Handicraft and Recreation for Girls, continuing their focus on creativity, making things by hand, and enjoying the natural world.

Adelia B. Beard died in 1920. Her books still feel fresh because they treat curiosity, resourcefulness, and play as serious strengths, and they remain a window into the beginnings of organized outdoor and craft activities for girls in the United States.