Lida B. (Lida Brown) McMurry

Born in 1853, she was an American educator, author, and organizer whose career was closely tied to teaching and teacher training. Reliable reference sources describe her as an important figure in American Herbartianism, a movement that influenced educational theory in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and note that she also helped found a YWCA chapter.

She taught at the State Normal School in DeKalb, Illinois, and wrote books designed for children and classrooms. Her best-known titles include Fifty Famous Fables and volumes in the Our Language and Smith-McMurry language series, which reflect her interest in making reading instruction lively and accessible.

She died in 1942. Today, she is remembered less as a literary celebrity than as a thoughtful schoolbook writer whose stories and lessons were created to help young readers build confidence, vocabulary, and a lasting habit of reading.