by Sarah Park Dahlen

About Sarah Park Dahlen

Sarah Park Dahlen is Associate Professor in the Master of Library and Information Science Program at St. Catherine University and a member of the American Library Association, Children’s Literature Association, International Research Society for Children’s Literature, and the Association for Asian American Studies. She cofounded and co-edits Research on Diversity in Youth Literature (2017-), co-edited Children’s Literature Association Quarterly’s special issue on orphanhood and adoption in children’s literature (2015), and co-edited the book Diversity in Youth Literature: Opening Doors through Reading (2013).

Authenticity

According to the OED, the first instance of the word authenticity was in 1716, in letters to Dr. Richard Bentley regarding a translation of the New Testament (cited in McDonald 2016, 226). Variations of the word authenticity, however, appear earlier: “autenticitat (probably 1343)” and “French authenticité (1557).” Definitions of authenticity include “the fact or quality of being true or in accordance with fact; veracity; correctness”; “of undisputed origin and not a copy; genuine”; “made or done in the traditional or original way, or in a way that faithfully resembles an original”; and “based on facts; accurate or reliable” (OED).