Reading Themes 

The Kerlan Collection
by Rebecca Tisdel Rapport

In caverns under the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis lies a treasure of inestimable value, a treasure that is attainable by all those who seek it: for this is a trove of words and pictures, a rich collection of our literary history. The Kerlan Collection in the Andersen Library at the University of Minnesota is one of the special collections—along with The Hess Collection of dime novels, Big Little Books, series books, comic books, and other works for children from the nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries; The Paul Bunyan Collection of books, pamphlets, and other lore about the legendary tall-tale hero; The Laura Jane Musser Oziana Collection with everything about Oz and its wizard; and a collection of books by winners of the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children—that constitute The Children’s Literature Research Collections. The Kerlan Collection is one of the most extensive collections of children’s literature, original manuscripts and illustrations in the world.
          Like many collections, The Kerlan Collection was the passion of one person, Dr. Irvin Kerlan, one of the youngest graduates of the University of Minnesota Medical School, who first became interested in children’s books as an adult when someone gave him one as a comfort when he was ill. He bought more and more children’s books, especially those which had won the Newbery and Caldecott Awards, and corresponded and became friends with many authors and illustrators. Dr. Kerlan was dismayed to discover that the manuscripts, illustrations, and other related materials from the creation of the books he loved were often piled in boxes and stored haphazardly in damp basements or stifling attics. Thus began his collection, which contained nine thousand books and one hundred eighty manuscripts with illustrations for even more titles when it was donated to the University of Minnesota in 1949. Today, the collection holds over seventy-five thousand books (many of which have been inscribed) along with original manuscripts and illustrations for more than ten thousand of them.
          I have spent twenty-five years exploring the collection and bringing my children’s literature students to share in the wealth. We are able to study the many versions of Marguerite Henry’s Newbery Award-winning King Of The Wind (Rand McNally, 1948); to pore over the manuscripts of distinguished authors such as Christopher Paul Curtis, Jane Yolen, Scott O’Dell, or Karen Hesse; to examine journals kept by Wanda Gág; to compare the sketches, dummy books, and character studies to the finished books of illustrators such as Tomie de Paola, James Marshall, Margot Zemach, Chris Van Allsburg and Barbara Cooney; to study the relationship between Katherine Paterson and her editor through their correspondence during the writing of Bridge To Terabithia (Crowell, 1977); to enjoy the word play of poets Barbara Juster Esbensen or Eve Merriam.
          During one recent visit with graduate students, I heard an excited flurry coming from a couple of students looking at materials donated by Cynthia Rylant. They had discovered a photograph of the real-life Mudge used as a model by Sucie Stevenson for her illustrations of the large, lovable dog in the Henry and Mudge series read so avidly by the beginning readers of both teachers. Other students were awed by Clement Hurd’s artwork for Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon (Harper & Row, 1947). Others were absorbed in studying the changes they discovered in the drafts of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s novel Shiloh (Antheneum, 1991).
          For those who are unable to visit the collection, a number of teaching portfolios have been created. Facsimiles of original materials and related work for selected books, accompanied by suggested activities, are available for authors and illustrators Tomie de Paola, Anne Rockwell, Charlotte Zolotow, Myra Cohn Livingston, Karen Ritz, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Marion Dane Bauer, Marguerite Henry, and Katherine Paterson. Many teachers have used the portfolios successfully in their classrooms as an introduction to how writers and illustrators work for children as young as five or six. Some portfolios can be mailed so that students far from the University of Minnesota can study a favorite author or illustrator.
          In 1975, to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota, the Kerlan Award, “in recognition of singular attainments in the creation of children’s literature, and in appreciation for generous donations of unique resources to the Kerlan Collection for the study of children’s literature,” was created. The first winners of the award were Marie Hall Ets, Marguerite Henry, and Elizabeth Coatsworth. Now, over twenty-five years later, the list of winners includes some of the most celebrated authors and illustrators of books for children, including Carol Ryrie Brink, Eleanor Cameron, Wanda Gág, Leonard Everett Fisher, Jean Craighead George, Glen Rounds, Madeleine L’Engle, Barbara Cooney, and most recently, Joan Lowery Nixon and Barbara Juster Esbensen (posthumously). In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the Kerlan Collection, the speeches and examples of the work of all the Kerlan Award winners have been compiled in the book The Kerlan Awards in Children’s Literature 1975–2001 edited by Ruth Berman and published by Pogo Press. Readers will gain insight not only into the writing and illustrating processes of the winners, but also into the influences affecting the creation of their books.
          By the banks of the Mississippi, there is a place where language and writers and art and illustrators of children’s books are celebrated. In this technological age when writers who may once have handwritten first drafts, revising as they wrote, now erase text with the touch of a key; when illustrators who may once have sketched and then painted their art now create computer-generated illustrations, the Kerlan Collection will become an even more valuable repository for the study of the creative process. Future generations of children’s book lovers will be able to make discoveries first heralded by Irvin Kerlan long before they were born, long before there were treasures hidden deep within the limestone caverns that now preserve them so well.
          For further information about The Kerlan Collection, teaching portfolios, The Kerlan Awards In Children’s Literature 1975–2001, or to become a Kerlan Friend contact: The Kerlan Collection, 113 Andersen Library, 222 21st. Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Telephone: (612) 624-4576 

Rebecca Tisdel Rapport Ph.D., is a lecturer in children’s literature and literacy at the University of Minnesota and a past-president of the Kerlan Friends.