Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature
The Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature in the Department of Special Collections at the University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries contains more than 100,000 volumes published in Great Britain and the United States from the mid-1600s to date. Its holdings of more than 800 early American imprints is the second largest such collection in the United States. The product of Ruth Baldwin's 40-year collection development efforts, this vast assemblage of literature printed primarily for children offers an equally vast territory of topics for the researcher to explore: education and upbringing, family and gender roles, civic values, racial, religious, and moral attitudes, literary style and format, and the arts of illustration and book design.
A great strength of the collection is the many English and American editions of the same work. Other strengths of the collection include 300 editions of Robinson Crusoe, 100 editions of Pilgrim's Progress, fables, juvenile biography, 19th century science and natural history, 19th century alphabet books, moral tales, fairy tales, 19th century juvenile periodicals, 19th century boys' adventure stories, 20th century boys' and girls' series, Little Golden Books, and juvenile publications of the American Sunday School Union and other tract societies. Scholars, students, and researchers from the University of Florida and worldwide continue to request assistance from this collection.
Full Text On-Line Children's Books:
Baldwin Library Digital Collection
Over 2500 fully digitized children's texts from the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature. A continually growing archive of children's books published in the United States and Great Britain during the 19th century. The foundation for this on-line, digitized Collection is a cataloging and preservation project covering the years 1850-1900 funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
This collection is part of the PALMM (Publication of Archival Library and Museum Materials) project comprised of digitized volumes from the Departments of Special Collections at several of the State University System of Florida libraries. The core of this children's literature collection comes from The Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature at the University of Florida. It is a collection of digitized titles published, predominantly in the United States and Great Britain, from the 17th through the 20th centuries.
International Children's Digital Library
A collection of of books that represents outstanding historical and contemporary books from throughout the world.
Internet Archive Children's Library
Books for children from around the world.
Online Catalog Searching Techniques
Archival/Manuscript Collections:
Fellowships:
Programs:
Exhibits:
- Cover Story: A virtual exhibit of 19th Century children's book covers.
- Help is on the Way! Comic Books and Superheroes in Special Collections: Popular superheroes appearing in DC Comics from 1960 through present day. (Hosted by ImageText, UF Department of English)
- The Afterlife of Alice in Wonderland
For further information contact Rita Smith, Curator of the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature. If you wish, you may register with the Department of Special Collections.
