Since the late 17th century, the Fairy Godmother has been a powerful presence in the fairy tales and popular visual cultures of the West. But how did a character who combines the ritual Christian function of taking responsibility for a young person's spiritual education and the older pagan duties of a supernatural "guardian, guide and gift-giver" come to hold such prominence? In this image-rich lecture, Jason Lahman will guide us through the works of the proto-feminist courtiers of the ancien régime such as Madame D'Aulnoy and Madame Leprince de Beaumont, the invention of the Romantic lore of fairies, and the explosion of illustrated children's books in the Victorian era, including not only the works of of Perrault, Andersen and the Grimms, but also early authors of modern fantasy such as George MacDonald which made images of the fairy godmother and other kinds of magical helpers household presences.