Collecting Delaware Books
Nancy Sawin
This is an extensive update of the Nancy Sawin checklist originally published in April 1992.
Dr. Nancy Churchman Sawin has written, illustrated, and published a number of books about Delaware. She is a fifth-generation Delawarean and active in many ways around the state. Sawin was on the faculty and later head of Sanford School, which was founded by her mother. She is a former member of the All-American Field Hockey Team, and this resulted in her first two pamphlets. She says her history of Sanford School taught her about book production.
The University of Delaware Messenger volume 6, number 1 includes a front-cover photograph and a biography of Sawin, Delaware artist and historian. The article details her academic career, sports accomplishments in field hockey, leadership of the Sanford School, art, and writing. A copy belongs in the files of any lover of Nancy's books. The magazine is a publication of University's public relations department.
(Dr. Sawin died March 18, 2008. See her obituary on this Web site.)
The following books are written and illustrated by Nancy Sawin. Most are printed on paper from Delaware's Curtis Paper Company. Except as stated, all are soft cover.
- Playing Hockey, Four Fundamentals of Hockey. 1958 (with Constance M. K. Applebee) pamphlet.
- Playing Hockey, If You Play Forward. 1958 (with Constance M. K. Applebee) pamphlet.
- History of Sanford School, 1930-1970.1970 (author not stated) hardbound.
- Delaware Sketchbook. 1976 (with Janice M. Carper).
- Backroading Through Cecil County, Md. 1977. (with Esther R. Perkins).
- Between the Bays. 1978 (with Janice M. Carper). Eastern Shore of Maryland.
- RFD Country Art. 1979. Sketches of mail boxes coast to coast.
- Up the Spine and Down the Creek. 1982. Northern Delaware and Chester County, Pa.
- Canal Town. 1983 (with Esther R. Perkins). Chesa- peake City, Md.
- Locks, Traps, and Corners. 1984. Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
- Brick and Ballast. 1985 (with Janice M. Carper). Eastern Shore of Maryland.
- China Sketchbook. 1985. Author's trip to China.
- A Hockessin Diary. 1987. hardback. Hockessin, Delaware.
- Privy to the Council, Seats of Yore. 1987. Sketches of outhouses.
- The Oulde King's Roade. 1989. Central New Castle County, Delaware.
- North from Wilmington by Olde Roades and Turnpikes. 1992. With Barbara McEwing.
- Once Upon a Time in the Countryside. 1994.
- Sketches of Early Delaware Main Streets. 1997.
- Delaware USA. 1999.
- The following books were illustrated by her:
- Man-O-War, My Island Home. 1977 by Haziel Albury. About the Bahamas.
- Bandages of Soft Illusion, 1979, by Paul J. Wingate (poetry by this Delawarean about his Maryland childhood home).
- New Sweden on the Delaware, 1988, by Clinton A. Weslager .