Historical Children’s Book Collection

The Historical Children’s Book Collection is a collection of over 15,000 volumes intended for children and juvenile readers, ranging from the eighteenth century to the present day. The Historical Children’s Books Collection includes a vast diversity of items enriched by donations from the personal libraries of collectors Neil Harris and Teri J. Edelstein, Barbara and Bill Yoffee, and Edward Valauskas, among others. It is an incalculably rich resource not only for scholars of children’s and adolescent literature, but for those interested in print, social, and educational history.

Items in this collection acquired between 1945 and the Historical Children’s Book Collection’s creation in 2014 were formerly a part of the Encyclopaedia Britannica Collection of Children’s Literature; these items were separated out because they did not form part of the Encyclopaedia Britannica’s gift. All newly acquired children’s books join the Historical Children’s Book Collection.

Browse books from the Historical Children's Book Collection in the Library Catalog. See also the Neil Harris and Teri J. Edelstein Collection, the Barbara and Bill Yoffee Collection, and the Edward Valauskas Collection of Dinosauriana.