{{Infobox person | name = Margaret Dean Smith | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Lilian Gracie Copeman | birth_date = 7 November 1899 | birth_place = Lowestoft | death_date = {{death date and age text|9 February 1997|7 November 1899}} | death_place = Royal Surrey County Hospital | death_cause = | other_names =Lilian Gracie Copeman;<br/>Margaret Josephine Dean-Smith;<br/>Margaret Josephine Dean | known_for = | education = Birkbeck College | employer = | occupation = librarian and folklorist | parents = Frederica Henrietta Copeman | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Margaret Dean Smith''' or '''Lilian Gracie Copeman; Margaret Josephine Dean-Smith; Margaret Josephine Dean''' (7 November 1899 – 9 February 1997) was an English folklorist and librarian.
==Life== Smith was born in Lowestoft in 1899 with the name of Lilian Gracie Copeman. Her mother, Frederica Henrietta Copeman, was a "mother's help" and the following year she was adopted by Clara Ellen (Nellie) Dean and given the new name of Margaret Josephine Dean.<ref name=names/> Her new mother married Arnold Dunbar Smith in 1911 and her third name was Margaret Josephine Dunbar Smith. Her new step father was a shy but successful Arts and Crafts architect who had designed the Mary Ward House (with Cecil Claude Brewer).<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Brewer, Cecil Claude (1871–1918), architect architect|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-63127;jsessionid=2293D87D38E2CE90B2B27411FF46CF7B|access-date=2020-09-26|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/63127}}</ref>
From a young age she was surrounded by people involved in the revival of the Arts and Crafts Movement. She was educated by tutors before she went to St Albans High School for Girls, which she left in 1917.<ref name=names>{{Cite ODNB|title=Smith, Margaret Josephine Dean- [formerly Lilian Gracie Copeman] (1899–1997), folklorist|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-71534;jsessionid=090E05DD4AAC56D45ECCBA046C02AAD4|access-date=2020-09-26|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/71534}}</ref> Her school education was complete but she went on to live in 1921 above the headquarters of the Art-Workers' Guild. The following year she became an active member of the English Folk Dance Society meeting the folk singing revivalist Charles Sharp.
[[File:The Dancing Master from 1675.jpg|left|thumb|The Dancing Master by John Playford from 1675<ref name=play/>]]
In 1933 she took a degree in history at London's Birkbeck College. In 1939 she was working for the BBC cataloguing their large collection of gramophone records. She had decided that this was her role in life to bring order to libraries.<ref name=names/>
In 1957 she completed her book ''Playford's English Dancing Master''.<ref name=play>{{Cite book|last1=Playford|first1=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stlPxwEACAAJ&dq=Playford's+English+Dancing+Master,+1651+dean|title=Playford's English dancing master: 1651|last2=Dean-Smith|first2=Margaret|date=1957|publisher=Schott|language=en}}</ref> The 1651 book ''The Dancing Master'' by John Playford had been designed for teaching dancing. It was originally small so that the dancing master could hide it under his cloak and consult it surreptitiously.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bonhams : PLAYFORD (WILLIAM) The Dancing-Master: Or, Directions for Dancing, Country Dances, with the Figure and Tunes to each Dance. The Fifth Edition, with Additions, W. Godbid, and are to be sold by John Playford at his Shop in the Temple, 1675|url=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21763/lot/156/|access-date=2020-09-26|website=www.bonhams.com}}</ref> This work had been the first publication of English dance tunes and her publication established her as the expert on this work.<ref name=names/>
Smith died in Royal Surrey County Hospital in 1997.<ref name=names/>
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Margaret Dean}} Category:1899 births Category:1997 deaths Category:People from Lowestoft Category:English librarians Category:British women librarians Category:20th-century British librarians Category:20th-century women librarians