John MacKay Shaw

John MacKay Shaw (15 May 1897 – 15 March 1984) was a Scottish-American business executive, bibliophile, philanthropist, and writer. He was interested in the tradition of poetry in the English language from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. He was especially attentive to its treatment of the theme of childhood.

Early life Shaw was born on 15 May 1897, in Glasgow, Scotland. His father immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to find work and the rest of the family followed him in 1911. He left school at the age of 14 and went first to work at John Wanamaker's department store as an errand boy and later to Wharton Business School where he took stenographic courses. During World War I, he joined the Ambulance Corps and served in France.

Career After the war, Shaw joined the steno pool at Mitten Management but he was chosen by the president of the company, Thomas Mitten, to serve as his private secretary. His specialty was in the field of public relations and advertising. When Mitten died, Shaw left the company to work as a public relations executive for the Bell Telephone System. In this role, he worked on the weekly radio program "The Bell Telephone Hour" and redesigned the New York City Yellow Pages.

While working for the company, he began to collect British and American poetry by and about children. He joined the Grolier Club and the American Library Association. When he retired in 1959, he donated almost 6,000 volumes to Florida State University. He created an 11-volume annotated bibliography, Childhood in Poetry. He was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters in 1972.

Later life Shaw died on 15 March 1984, in Tallahassee, Florida.