December 2, 2014 through January 14, 2015 -- Downtown Library: Lower Level Display Cases
The University of Michigan’s Special Collections Library is happy once again to present an exhibit drawing upon its rich Children’s Literature Collection and Transportation History Collection. This year’s theme is transportation throughout the decades and how it influenced and became part of children’s books. The exhibit includes classics such as The Little Engine That Could while also documenting how authors used this genre to educate children about the changing transportation in the world around them.
The four main areas of the exhibit are "On The Road," "Up In The Air," "Riding the Rails" and "Ships Ahoy!." Each segment is subdivided into two sections, titles that focus on teaching children about a mode of transport, and those featuring tales of travel and adventure in that genre. The majority of the material is from the 20th century with a few examples from earlier and later periods. It should be noted that this is only a sampling from the extensive holdings of such material within the Special Collections Library’s Children’s Literature Collection. These materials and many other related titles are available for viewing in that Library.
Some titles will be readily recognized such a Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Norton Juster’s Phantom Tollbooth, and Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. Many others will be new to the viewer. Books in all formats have been included as well, including picture books, board books, chapter books, and pop-up and other mechanic styles. Together they present a solid picture of how development of modern transportation methods has been incorporated into children’s literature through the last 150 years.
This year’s exhibit has been curated by Kathleen Dow, Head, Archives Unit and Curator, Transportation History Collection, and assisted by William A. Gosling, Curator Emeritus, Children’s Literature Collection, Special Collections Library. The exhibit was prepared by Cathleen Baker, Conservation Librarian and Exhibition Conservator and Marieka Kaye, Conservation Librarian/Book Conservator, Preservation and Conservation Department; with the assistance of Anne Elias and Karmen Beecroft, Collection Services Specialists, Special Collections Library.