Last semester I toyed with the idea of writing a research paper on special collections of children’s literature and the implementation of EAD (encoded archival description). The vague idea grew from reading about the University of Minnesota Archives and Special Collections recent EAD implementation project, which included the Children’s Literature Research Collections (CLRC). Inspired by the Poky Little Puppy image on the CLRC stylesheet, I envisioned the title of my paper and presentation as “The Poky Little Puppy’s Guide to EAD”.
The paper never came to fruition, but I decided to use the idea partially for this weblog. On a regular basis, I would like to showcase online finding aids from children’s literature collections. This is an experiment, but I hope that it will be a useful one.
For the inaugural post, I have selected the Irvin Kerlan Papers. Ideally, I would have selected Janette Sebring Lowrey and/or Gustaf Tenggren, the author and illustrator, respectively, of The Poky Little Puppy, but those finding aids are among the few that are not online.
University of Minnesota alumnus Dr. Irvin Kerlan (1912-1963) gave his collection to the university in 1949, establishing one of the earliest children’s literature special collections in the United States. Although Kerlan was known professionally for his research on toxicity, his dedication to collecting children’s books would become his greatest legacy. Through his active solicitation of materials from children’s book authors and illustrators, he built a unique collection containing original artwork and manuscripts, as well as printed books. The Irvin Kerlan Papers reflect Kerlan’s commitment to children’s literature, documenting his work through professional correspondence, photographs, drafts, bibliographies, and other materials.
