INTRODUCTION

The books, original drawings and manuscripts exhibited here are drawn from the approximately 175 collections devoted to American children's literature in the library's Division of Special Collections and University Archives.

Beginning in the 1950s the library's Special Collections developed major holdings in this field, among the half dozen best institutional collections in the nation. The collections range from large archival holdings documenting the activities of an individual publisher (Greenwillow Books) to editorial files and personal libraries (Lucille Ogle) and on to original drawings and manuscripts by writers and artists such as Louis Slobodkin, Elizabeth Orton Jones, Maud and Miska Petersham and Hardie Gramatky.

Enjoyable in themselves as objects of nostalgia, these collections also inform research in the visual arts, education and the history of the book.

This exhibition was organized in 1998 by Dorothy Knaus, Manuscripts Assistant, with the assistance of Will Harmon, Special Collections Clerk; Tassa Gribskov, student assistant; and Cristian Boboia, Media Services. Bernard McTigue was then director of Special Collections & University Archives. This Web page was created by John Gervais, student assistant.