[3] The family spent their summers at “Camp”, which was an island surrounded by marshlands that Mildred's father owned.

[7] She was a “small and sickly child”[7] who suffered with allergies, asthma, eczema and a suspected thyroid condition[8] however, she seemed to adopt her mother's stoic strength despite her physical challenges.

[14] In 1928, Evanston, IL became her permanent home when she accepted a position as the librarian at Haven Middle School, which doubled as a community library in the evenings.

[14] The American Library Association (ALA) was close in proximity to Evanston and she began building professional relationships with some of the important people at ALA.[14] Batchelder became part of the ALA staff in 1936, serving as the newly created School Library Specialist.

She fought hard for the rights of minorities and women and was enraged when the keynote speaker of an ALA meeting was asked to use the service elevator because she was black.

She was instrumental in bringing this racism to light and in keeping the ALA conferences from taking place in Southern states for 20 years.

[20] Peggy Sullivan, who was the Executive Director of the ALA, said, “She led the way in incorporating nonprint materials into libraries”.

[20] Batchelder was appointed as staff liaison to the visual methods committee[22] and asked the State Department for any leftover WWII A/V equipment for library use.

This project would reveal a great need for literature in Central America and Batchelder believed that by providing translated books to and from all over the world, understanding on the international level would increase.

[21] Mildred Batchelder died on August 25, 1998, as a resident of the Swedish Retirement Association home in Evanston, IL.