Cabinets of Curiosity: Kerlan Collection
Wed, Nov 13 2024, 10:30am
What draws readers to the world of children’s literature? Fantasy? Historical fiction? Folklore? Nonfiction? Poetry? Something else? Visiting the Kerlan Collection of Children’s Literature at the Elmer L. Andersen Library on the west Bank of the U of M Twin Cities campus offers a special opportunity to learn about historical and modern aspects of books written for children, including both familiar favorites and rare and significant holdings.
The Kerlan is one of the world’s leading collections of rare books, manuscripts, and original art of children’s literature. It contains the work of more the 1,700 authors and illustrators from the 19th and 20th centuries to today, and it is the founding and largest collection within the University’s Children’s Literature and Research Collections.
Librarian and Curator Lisa Von Drasek will share the history of the stellar Kerlan Collection and provide a sampling of this extraordinary archive of books, manuscripts, and illustrations preserved in the Elmer L. Andersen Library on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus.
UMRA’s Cabinets of Curiosity tour will be a special opportunity to learn about the more than 100,000 items in the collection that reveal historical and modern aspects of books written for children, including both familiar favorites and rare and significant holdings. After the tour, those who are interested will enjoy lunch together at a local restaurant.
Please register if you want to join us for this tour of the Kerlan Collection on November 13 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Cabinets of Curiosity tours have limited registration and typically fill early.
If you cannot join us this time, watch for more tours in the future, including a visit to the Herbarium Collection in the Biological Sciences building on the St. Paul campus in February 2025.
Questions? Contact UMRA member Sally Gregory Kohlstedt ([email protected]), Jan Morlock ([email protected]), or Cathy Lee Gierke ([email protected] ).
Read about the Swedish-born artist Gustaf Tenggren, a prolific visual interpreter of fantasy literature who played a prominent role in the mid-20th century revolution in children’s book publishing. His children’s books, illustrations, and personal papers are part of the Kerlan Collection.