We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the classic Life Story by Virginia Lee Burton. First published in 1962, this wonderful book tells the tale of life on Earth from the beginning to the present with intense color and detail. In 1968, Burton gave the drawings for this book to the Children's Literature Research Collection at the Free Library. The collection contains hundreds of illustrations that Burton created over eight years. Every aspect was drawn and redrawn until each was just right and the final product contains striking illustrations that jump off the page. The story of Earth from the Big Bang right up to today is presented as a stage play, starring creatures ranging from giant dinosaurs to tiny plants. Burton herself is the narrator in the last act, telling the story of her own family as it grows over time. Life Story was her final book, and is an amazing piece of art. We were lucky to be given the funds to catalog it as part of a CLIR-funded “Hidden Collections” grant, and we are especially happy to be able to share it with you. An exhibit showcasing Burton's beautiful art is now on display on the ground floor of Parkway Central, outside of the auditorium. Come see it before the curtain closes!

-Lindsay Friedman

Tags: CLIR Grant, Children's Literature Research Collection, archives

With 2011 coming to an end, we want to recognize the 75^th anniversary of one of our favorite children’s books: Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson’s The Story of Ferdinand. Published by Viking Press in 1936, the book has been translated into more than 60 languages (including Latin!) and the rights have recently been acquired by Fox Animation Studios, who plan to make a full-length animated film. Of course, we’re partial to The Story of Ferdinand here at the Free Library since we are lucky to have the papers of both author Munro Leaf and illustrator Robert Lawson in our Rare Book Department.  The Munro Leaf papers were donated by his wife Margaret Leaf in 1977-1983 and the Frederick R. Gardner collection of Robert Lawson was donated by the avid collector Gardner in 1969-1977.  Both collections are the largest source of materials for both Lawson and Leaf, and thanks to a CLIR-funded “Hidden Collections” grant, we were able to process these amazing materials and make them available to researchers.

Munro Leaf wrote The Story of Ferdinand for his friend Robert Lawson. Lawson had already received some recognition for his children’s book illustrations, but complained about the lack of artistic freedom inherent in illustrating other authors’ books. Ferdinand was to be a showcase for his incredible talent with pen and ink.  One of the most popular items in the Munro Leaf papers is the original handwritten manuscript Leaf claimed to have dashed off in twenty minutes.  While the book was an immediate hit in September 1936, it was not without controversy. Coincidentally published in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, the story about the Spanish bull who would rather smell the flowers than fight was interpreted by some as a pacifist fable.  More elaborately, letters to Leaf accused him of “the laissez-faire theory of economics seconded by the bourgeois ideology of utility,” “Red propaganda,” and “Fascist propaganda” (New York Times November 20, 1937). Leaf had a simpler motive: “It’s a happy-ending story, about being yourself” (Washington Post June 25, 1967).  As time passed and Ferdinand became a permanent part of the culture, the controversy wasn’t the only thing to fade. In 1968, a friend sent Leaf a clipping from the Washington Post which recommended buying The Story of Ferdinand at Brentano’s Book Store, which had “a version by Munro Leaf” (December 17, 1968).

While we are excited to see what Fox Animation Studios produces, it will not be Ferdinand’s first time on film.  In 1938, Walt Disney Productions released the short film “Ferdinand the Bull” (you can find it on YouTube) which won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoon) the following year.  Unsurprisingly, the film release included a diverse array of merchandising opportunities for Ferdinand.  Among the Walt Disney Enterprises ephemera in our collection, there is a Ferdinand pencil sharpener, fabric swatches, a charm bracelet, and some adorable decorative buttons memorializing Ferdinand and the unfortunate bullfighters.  We also have two original painted animation cels from the Disney film which really put into perspective the enormous undertaking of a classically-animated film, even one only seven minutes long.

Disney may have been the highest-profile adapter of The Story of Ferdinand, but it was hardly alone.  Our favorite unexpected adaptation is the program from “The Ballad of Ferdinan’: A Folk Rock Opera” from 1972.  For slightly more historical interest, we also have a number of materials, including photographs and the script, from the 1939 marionette play adaption done by the WPA Federal Theatre Project. Another puppet-related highlight is the Puppet Theatre of Ljubljana’s “Zgodba o Ferdinandu” (produced in 1978), and while Slovene fluency would be helpful to anyone reading the program, the photographs require no translation.

We can’t help but get carried away with all of the exciting Ferdinand materials here at the Free Library, and we hope you’ll check out our Facebook page for updates or make an appointment to come visit the collections at the Rare Book Department.  We’d be remiss not to mention one last masterpiece: the dummy of The Story of Ferdinand, made by Robert Lawson in 1935. The dummy, which is a mockup of the future book, includes the full text and elaborate graphite sketches that Leaf and Lawson used when shopping the story to various publishers.  In fact, the copyright page credits “So-and-So Press,” waiting for the lucky publisher to recognize a masterpiece. While the dummy includes some corrections to the text, it is no surprise that the end remains unchanged: “He is very happy.”

-Caitlin Goodman

Tags: CLIR Grant, Children's Literature Research Collection, Exhibitions, Rare Book Department, archives

 It’s the most wonderful time of the year . . . the time when we get to show off all of the beautiful artists’ Christmas and New Year’s cards in the children’s literature collections of the Free Library of Philadelphia. When we started processing the papers of children’s authors and illustrators Lloyd Alexander, Carolyn Haywood, and Robert Lawson as part of a CLIR-funded “Hidden Collections” grant, we didn’t expect that some of the most charming pieces of artwork would be mundane, ephemeral greeting cards. But these artists’ creativity spilled over into everything they did, and their handmade Christmas cards are often miniature gems. Robert and Marie Lawson even designed Christmas cards professionally, producing one a day for three years in the 1920s in order to pay for their first house. Other authors like Lloyd Alexander, best known for his Chronicles of Prydain series, only dabbled in drawing. Alexander’s humorous self-caricatures adorn Christmas cards sent to his friends, who would be sure to get the joke. Carolyn Haywood’s papers include not only the cards she designed, but also the hand-made cards sent to her by her artistic mentors, the Red Rose Girls. Don’t miss this seasonal exhibit, now on display on the ground floor of Parkway Central!

Tags: CLIR Grant, Children's Literature Research Collection, Exhibitions, Holidays, Rare Book Department, archives

Recently, I began processing the papers of children’s book author and illustrator Munro Leaf. Having already processed the Frederick R. Gardner collection of Robert Lawson, it was a perfect transition to move to the Munro Leaf papers. Munro Leaf (1905-1976) wrote The Story of Ferdinand (1936) for his friend Lawson to illustrate, and they collaborated on three more children’s books: Wee Gillis (1938), an adaptation of Aesop’s Fables (1941), and The Story of Simpson and Sampson (1941). After Frederick R. Gardner donated his Lawson collection to the Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Munro Leaf’s widow, Margaret, decided to do the same with his papers.

Munro Leaf may be best remembered for Ferdinand but it was finding the material for his long-running Watchbirds series that was an early highlight in the collection. The Watchbirds series reminded me of the Goofus and Gallant cartoons in Highlights magazine that I read at my dentist’s office as a child. (Fun fact: Highlights magazine also ran a similarly themed series by Munro Leaf, Checkaway, in the 1950s.) The Watchbirds cartoons started out as a recurring column in Ladies Home Journal in 1938, but remained a fixture in the cultural mindset even after Leaf’s death in 1976: we have a Watchbirds calendar from 1978 and the most recent Watchbirds book, Four and Twenty Watchbirds, was published in 1990.

The Watchbirds flip the concept of bird-watching onto any potential childhood naughtiness. Did you (or might you) complain about going to bed on time? Refuse to brush your teeth? Throw a tantrum? Watch out, for there’s a watchbird watching YOU. After their popularity grew in Ladies Home Journal, the Watchbirds cartoons were compiled into five books and there is even “The Watchbird Song.” The cartoons followed a standard pattern: a naively drawn caricature (see the original art for “a SQUIRMER” at right) would be accompanied by a cute explanatory caption and two watchbirds. One watchbird would be disappointedly watching the Squirmer, the other would be watching YOU. A SQUIRMER is described by Leaf:

“Squirmers never sit still. They wriggle and wriggle and twist and turn until you wonder why they don’t fall apart. This one in the picture squirmed so much we couldn’t tell whether it was a boy or a girl. Squirmers are terrible at the table or in the barber shop.”

The Watchbirds may be a bit Big Brother for 2011 (they are particularly intimidating when found on adult-targeted brochures, like the one Leaf decorated for the Better Citizens Booth of the League of Women Voters), but Leaf’s captions and absurdist drawings soften the nagging. And if you’re interested in other ways Leaf endeavored to humorously indoctrinate children into good behavior, you might enjoy Manners Can Be Fun (1936), the second entry in a long and occasionally absurd series of titles (1976’s Metric Can Be Fun! is a personal favorite). There’s plenty more in the Munro Leaf collection, so check out our Facebook page for updates or make an appointment to come visit the Rare Book Department to see his whimsy in person!

-Caitlin Goodman
 

Tags: CLIR Grant, Children's Literature Research Collection, Exhibitions, Rare Book Department, archives

Children’s illustrator Carolyn Haywood was a lifelong Philadelphian who generously donated her extensive collection of book manuscripts, illustrations, and personal papers to the Free Library of Philadelphia. We recently completed processing this collection, and some of our most interesting finds are now on display in the exhibit cases on the ground floor outside of the Montgomery Auditorium at Parkway Central. Come and see her early illustrations – influenced by the group of artists known as the Red Rose Girls, who were her friends and mentors – as well as rare unpublished book illustrations, photographs, awards, and typescripts.

Born in Philadelphia on January 3, 1898, Haywood attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and taught briefly at Friends Central School. The editor Elizabeth Hamilton saw some of her illustrations and suggested that Haywood write a story “about little American children, doing the things that little American children like to do.” The resulting book, B is for Betsy, was published in 1939. Betsy and Haywood’s other popular series character, Eddie Wilson, would go on to star in many of Haywood’s books. Haywood based her child characters on children she knew, and they served as models not just for the children’s adventures and preoccupations but also for the illustrations. Several of these model photographs appear in the exhibition, along with the illustrations they inspired. Also on display are scarce photographs of Haywood working on large-scale murals with Violet Oakley, a less well-known aspect of her work that demonstrates her range as an artist.

Still, Haywood was best known for her children’s books, and she wrote or illustrated over fifty before she passed away in 1990. She left an admirable legacy in the collection bequeathed to the Free Library, and we’re very pleased to share it with you. Stop by and take a look!
 

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Tags: CLIR Grant, Children's Literature Research Collection, archives