Aryssa Damron - A Page Turner

A Page Turner

This Washington, D.C., Daughter may be a librarian, but her accomplishments are anything but hush-hush.

By Lena Anthony

That Aryssa Damron would become a librarian seemed inevitable—to everyone but her. “I grew up with a really strong relationship with my public library,” said Ms. Damron, who is from Ashland, Kentucky, and now calls Washington, D.C., home.

As a child, she routinely tested the limits of the Boyd County Public Library’s lending rules. “I think I could have 50 books checked out any given time,” she said. Later, she served on its teen advisory board. “They would let us weed the collection, which I thought was really cool.”

After leaving eastern Kentucky to attend Yale, she was sure her English major would lead her to the law or a job in publishing. When Ms. Damron announced her plan to get a graduate degree in library science, she was surprised—mostly because no one else was. “My friends and family all said, ‘We always knew you’d be a librarian.’”

After working for almost five years at the DC Public Library, Ms. Damron became a public school librarian in 2024. “I love working with kids and helping them get excited about reading and thinking more deeply about the books they read,” she said. “Plus, there’s nothing like the excitement of talking to a kid who realizes you’ve read their favorite book.”

And the chances are good that she has. Ms. Damron is not only a voracious reader but also a fast one. “I read about a book a day for work or for pleasure,” she said.

That’s in a typical year. Last year, as a member of the 15-person selection committee for the prestigious Caldecott Medal—awarded annually to outstanding American children’s book illustrators—she added more than a thousand picture books to her reading list.

“It was way harder than I thought it would be,” she said. “For a librarian who is definitely not an artist, evaluating books through the lens of their illustrations was a challenge. By the end of the process, I needed only a glance to be able to identify the paint medium. I also learned how to fight for the books I was interested in while also showing respect to my fellow committee members. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but also one of the most rewarding.”

Now that her “Caldecott year” is officially over, she’s looking forward to another hard-earned honor bestowed only on librarians: a fellowship to study children’s literature at the University of Florida’s Baldwin Library, which is one of the world’s largest repositories of children’s books.

“I’m exploring how Margaret Sidney’s body of children’s literature both aligned with her volunteer work and reflected her commitment to preparing future citizens,” said Ms. Damron, a member of Manor House DAR Chapter, Washington, D.C. “I’ll be focusing especially on how she imbued her stories with these values without being didactic.”

This is a full-circle moment for Ms. Damron: Margaret Sidney was the pen name for Harriett Lothrop, who became a DAR member in 1894 and founded the Children of the American Revolution the following year.

Ms. Damron joined DAR when she was 19. When she moved to Washington, D.C., she hoped her membership could help her make new friends—and it did. Through community events at the DAR Headquarters, chapter meetings and volunteer projects, she quickly found a sense of community and connection. Through her DAR chapter, Ms. Damron got involved with the Honor Flight Network, which flies more than 20,000 Veterans annually to the nation’s capital to visit their war memorial. Ms. Damron started out as an airport greeter and has since joined the network’s ground crew at Reagan National Airport.

“Ground crew simply means they can rely on me to do whatever they need me to do,” she said. “Sometimes it’s working the elevator. One time, I got to help make gate passes at the American Airlines ticket counter, which remains one of the greatest days of my life. Whatever it is they need me to do, I know it’s making a substantial impact.”