{"id":112,"date":"2019-07-31T16:55:22","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T16:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/?page_id=112"},"modified":"2026-03-10T20:31:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T20:31:58","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/research\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Children&#8217;s Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.library.illinois.edu\/sshel\/\">SSHEL Home<\/a>\u00a0&gt;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\">S-Collection Home<\/a>\u00a0 &gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/research\/\">Research Children&#8217;s Literature <\/a> &gt; History of Children&#8217;s Literature<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2 class=\"cheep\"><a name=\"web\"><\/a>Online Resources<\/h2>\n<div class =\"flower\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/content.lib.washington.edu\/childrensweb\/index.html\">Children\u2019s Historical Literature Collection<\/a><br \/>\nThis site from the University Library Digital Collections of the University of Washington features scanned PDFs of representative pages from historical children\u2019s literature.\u00a0 These high quality images were chosen to showcase the history of children\u2019s literature as an educational and recreational pursuit in both European and American books from the 18th to the 20th century.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.victorianweb.org\/genre\/childlit\/index.html\">The Victorian Web: Children\u2019s Literature<\/a><br \/>\nThis site features a collection of short scholarly essays on children\u2019s literature from the Victorian period. Articles are written by scholars in the field and the works and authors discussed are British.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/rmc.library.cornell.edu\/rabbithole\/\">Wardrobes and Rabbit Holes: A Dark History of Children\u2019s Literature from the Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University<\/a><br \/>\nA digital version of an exhibition on dark themes in historical writings for children held at the Carl A. Kroch Library at Cornell University.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wayback.archive-it.org\/10305\/20180410203135\/http:\/\/www.lib.udel.edu\/ud\/spec\/exhibits\/child\/index.htm\">World of the Child: Two Hundred Years of Children\u2019s Books<\/a><br \/>\nA companion website to a past exhibition at the University of Delaware, this site features a brief history of children\u2019s literature, digitized images from the exhibition (which are part of the special collections department at the University of Delaware), and a short bibliography.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2 class=\"cheep\"><a name=\"print\"><\/a>Print Resources<\/h2>\n<div>\n<p>S. 810.99282 AV37B<br \/>\n<b>Avery, Gillian.\u00a0<em>Behold the Child: American Children and their Books, 1621-1922<\/em>. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.<\/b><br \/>\nAn account of children&#8217;s literature in America from colonial times to the early 20th century. Compares American and English children&#8217;s books, discusses the influence of old world literature, and traces the emergence of uniquely American themes and styles in children&#8217;s books.<\/p>\n<p>S.741.642 B141a<br \/>\n<b>Bader, Barbara.\u00a0<em>American Picturebooks from Noah&#8217;s Ark to the Beast Within<\/em>. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1976.<\/b><br \/>\nExamples of picture book illustrations are used to present a comprehensive look at 20th children&#8217;s literature. Artists, editors, authors, printers, printing techniques, and the psychology of picture books are among the topics discussed. The volume also contains notes and an index.<\/p>\n<p>Available online<br \/>\n<strong>Capshaw, Katharine, and Duane, Anna Mae (Eds.). <em>Who writes for black children? : African American children&#8217;s literature before 1900<\/em>. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2017<\/strong><br \/>\nExamines literature written for African American children in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as poetry, biographies, and stories written by African American children themselves. Includes lists of relevant texts and primary source materials for further research.<\/p>\n<p>Q. Z1037.A1 C38 2017<br \/>\n<strong>Cave, Roderick, and Ayad, Sara. <em>A history of children&#8217;s books in 100 books<\/em>. Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books, 2017<\/strong><br \/>\nChronicles the development of the children\u2019s book by exploring the contents of 100 examples of literature for children. Begins with ancient oral storytelling and moves into the modern era. Takes a global perspective and considers the phenomena of children\u2019s books as historical artifacts.<\/p>\n<p>026 D226c 1999<br \/>\n<b>Darton, F.J. Harvey.\u00a0<em>Children&#8217;s Books in England: Five Centuries of Social Life<\/em>. 3rd ed. London: British Library, 1999.<\/b><br \/>\nA classical history book of children&#8217;s literature in England from early times to the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, chronicling books, authors, publishers, and social and commercial history.<\/p>\n<p>S. 820.8 F925 2008<br \/>\n<strong>Demers, Patricia.\u00a0<em>From Instruction to Delight: An Anthology of Children\u2019s Literature to 1850<\/em>. 3rd ed. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press, 2008.<\/strong><br \/>\nAn anthology of poetry and prose read by and to children from the Middle Ages to the mid-nineteenth century, including familiar as well as little-known examples from each period.<\/p>\n<p>S. 820.9 C1441<br \/>\n<strong>Grenby, M. O. and Andrea Immel. Eds.\u00a0<em>The Cambridge Companion to Children\u2019s Literature<\/em>. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2009.<\/strong><br \/>\nSome of the most innovative and spell-binding literature has been written for young people, but only recently has academic study embraced its range and complexity. This book offers a state of the subject survey of English language children&#8217;s literature from the seventeenth century to the present. With discussions ranging from eighteenth century moral tales to modern fantasies by J. K. Rowling and Philip Pullman, it illuminates acknowledged classics and many more neglected works. Some chapters analyze key themes and major genres, including humor, poetry, school stories, and picture books. Others explore the sociological dimensions of children&#8217;s literature and the impact of publishing practices.<\/p>\n<p>S.820.9 L518o<br \/>\n<b>Lees, Stella and Pam Macintyre.\u00a0<em>The Oxford Companion to Australian Children&#8217;s Literature<\/em>. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1993.<\/b><br \/>\nIn encyclopedia format, this work cover the predominant topics, titles, characters, authors, and illustrators of the last 150 years of Australian children&#8217;s literature. A bibliography and a list of award winning titles are also included.<\/p>\n<p>809.89282 L5621c<br \/>\n<b>Lerer, Seth.\u00a0<em>Children&#8217;s Literature: A Reader&#8217;s History, from Aesop to Harry Potter.<\/em>\u00a0Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.<\/b><br \/>\nLener examines the development of literature for children from classical antiquity to the present. The book looks at the social functions of children\u2019s literature in multiple historic eras and regions by examining the worldviews created by different types of literature at different times. Included are selections from representative works of children\u2019s literature and extensive in-text references to additional exemplars from each period. Reproductions of a papyrus, wood-block prints, photographs, and other book illustrations are also included.<\/p>\n<p>S.016.80889928 L628c<br \/>\n<b>Lilly Library.\u00a0<em>Children&#8217;s Books Published by William Darton and His Sons<\/em>. Bloomington, Indiana: Lilly Library, Indiana University, 1992.<\/b><br \/>\nThis is a catalog of the Lilly Library&#8217;s 1992 exhibition of books published by William Darton and his sons between 1787 and the late 1830&#8217;s. Many of the books reflect the causes of abolition, prison reform, and universal literacy, which Darton and his sons championed.<\/p>\n<p>S.809.89282 Os8h2023<br \/>\n<strong>O\u2019Sullivan, Emer. <em>Historical Dictionary of Children\u2019s Literature<\/em>. 2nd ed. Lanham: Rowman &amp; Littlefield, 2023.<\/strong><br \/>\nContains over 700 entries that describe authors, illustrators, publications, characters, and other subjects relevant to children\u2019s literature and its history. Opens with a brief foreword and a chronological overview of the children\u2019s literature history, beginning in the year 990 and ending in 2021. An appendix lists major children\u2019s literature awards and their recipients. Update to the 2010 edition.<\/p>\n<p>Q. S.809.8928203 Ox22<br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99649098712205899\">The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children\u2019s Literature<\/a>. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.<\/strong><br \/>\nThis alphabetically arranged compendium of children&#8217;s literature includes noteworthy characters, titles, authors, and illustrators.<\/p>\n<p>S.016.82 Q29e<br \/>\n<b>Quayle, Eric.\u00a0<em>Early Children&#8217;s Books: A Collector&#8217;s Guide<\/em>.\u00a0<\/b><strong>Newton Abbot, Devon: David &amp; Charles, 1983.<\/strong><br \/>\nQuayle has traced the development of children&#8217;s literature from the earliest days to the turn of the 20th century. He includes a number of illustrations, a selected bibliography, and a title\/author index.<\/p>\n<p>S.028.5 W554c<br \/>\n<b>Whalley, Joyce Irene.\u00a0<em>Cobwebs to Catch Flies: Illustrated Books for the Nursery and Schoolroom, 1700-1900<\/em>. London: Elek Books Limited, 1974.<\/b><br \/>\nWhalley&#8217;s &#8220;picture book about pictures&#8221; traces two centuries of the development of children&#8217;s illustrations. Various chapters are devoted to alphabet books, religious instruction, grammar, street cries and occupations, among others. In addition to an index, Whalley has included a list of the plates, a list of publishers, and a list of internationally known children&#8217;s literature collections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SSHEL Home\u00a0&gt;\u00a0S-Collection Home\u00a0 &gt; Research Children&#8217;s Literature &gt; History of Children&#8217;s Literature Online Resources Children\u2019s Historical Literature Collection This site from the University Library Digital Collections of the University of Washington features scanned PDFs of representative pages from historical children\u2019s literature.\u00a0 These high quality images were chosen to showcase the history of children\u2019s literature as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":0,"parent":98,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-112","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":950,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/112\/revisions\/950"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/s-collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}