Elmer Boyd Smith

Elmer Boyd Smith was an illustrator, painter and writer known for having illustrated more than fifty books. He signed his name E. Boyd Smith and is often credited as such in publications. Smith was born in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1860 and raised in Boston. In the early to mid-1880s he attended the Académie Julian in Paris and studied with Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre.

Smith traveled to the American West when he returned to the U.S. In the late 1880s, he became one of the first directors of the Kansas City Art Institute. At that time, the college was known as the Kansas City Art Association and School of Design. He taught painting classes at the college, and even designed a logo for it. He widely exhibited his paintings in Kansas City. 

Smith married Mary E. McDowell on September 3, 1893. By the early 1900s, Smith had settled with his family in Connecticut. He became known as one of America’s leading illustrators of children’s books. His illustrated titles include Noah’s Ark, Robinson Crusoe, Chicken World, Lions ‘n Elephants ‘n Everything, Fun in the Radio World, and many more.

He retired in Wilton, Connecticut, and died in 1943.