KERLAN COLLECTION: Donation of Book Materials

As I continue to clean out the closet in my office where I keep the working materials from my published books, I have been donating manuscripts, letters, reviews, and other items to the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota.

The Kerlan Collection at the Children’s Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota is an internationally recognized center of research in the field of children’s literature. The Collection contains original materials, including manuscripts, artwork, galleys, and color proofs for more than 1,700 children’s book creators. These materials represent over a century of American children’s books and selected titles published in other countries. The Kerlan Collection also includes more than 110,000 children’s books.

My most recent donation is a box of books and associated materials from four of my books that were published by Charlesbridge Books.

Shockers of the Sea (1999)

Did You Hear That? (2001)

Birds: Nature's Magnificent Flying Machines (2003)

Super Swimmers: Whales, Dolphins and Other Mammals of the Sea (2007) 

 

I am proud to have my work included in the Kerlan Collection and hope that future students of children’s literature will find it of use in their research.

For a complete list of my books in the Kerlan Collection archive go to my website and scroll down to the bottom of the About the Author page .

For my post about my visit to the Kerlan Collection in 2022 click HERE.

GRINNELL COLLEGE LIBRARY--A Complete Collection of My Books

Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa.

I am proud that Burling Library, the Grinnell College library in Grinnell, Iowa, has all of my books in its collection. To my knowledge, it is the only institution that has copies of every one of my published books. (Note: the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota, one of the few national archives of children's books, has many of my books, as well as the accompanying manuscripts and correspondence. They also have my original art used for the books I illustrated.)

Five Nests (1980), my first published book.

I graduated from Grinnell College in 1966 with a B.A. in Art. My first book for children, Five Nests (E.P. Dutton) was published in 1980 and the publisher sent a copy of the book to the college library. Since then I have been sending copies of my books as they have come out. The books are kept in the Special Collections Room of Burling Library on the ground floor of the library along with books by other Grinnell College graduates.

Burling Library, Grinnell College.

I am the author of 170 books for children. Most are illustrated by other people. But between 2006 and 2015 I illustrated 16 of my books published by PictureWindow Books (Capstone). On my recent trip to Grinnell I brought 16 giclee prints of illustrations from those books--one from each book--and donated them to the library. (See list below.) I am glad to have them become part of the Grinnell Library collection. I thank Christopher Jones, the librarian in charge of Special Collections, for making my books and art available to students and users of the college library.

Giclee prints of cut-paper illustrations by Caroline Arnold for the following books are in the Grinnell College Library:

DAY AND NIGHT SERIES (2015)

Illustration from A Day and Night in the Desert 

A DAY AND NIGHT IN THE DESERT, pp 16-17 (PictureWindow Books, 2015)

 A DAY AND NIGHT ON THE PRAIRIE, pp 12-13 (PictureWindow Books, 2015)

 A DAY AND NIGHT IN THE RAIN FOREST, pp 6-7  (PictureWindow Books, 2015)

 A DAY AND NIGHT IN THE FOREST pp 16-17 (PictureWindow Books, 2015)

BLACK AND WHITE ANIMALS SERIES (2006)

Illustration from A Panda's World

A PANDA’S WORLD, pp. 4-5 and 20-21, (PictureWindow Books, 2006)

 A PENGUIN’S WORLD, pp. 20-21, (PictureWindow Books, 2006)

 A KILLER WHALE’S WORLD, pp. 8-9, (PictureWindow Books, 2006)

 A ZEBRA’S WORLD, pp. 18-19 and 20-21, (PictureWindow Books, 2006)

AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS SERIES (2008)

Illustration from A Kangaroo's World

A KANGAROO’S WORLD, pp. 18-19 and  20-21, (PictureWindow Books, 2008)

 A KOALA’S WORLD, pp. 12-13,  PictureWindow Books, 2008)

 A PLATYPUS’ WORLD, pp. 14-15, (PictureWindow Books, 2008)

 A WOMBAT’S WORLD, pp. 16-17, (PictureWindow Books, 2008)

ARCTIC ANIMAL SERIES (2010)

Illustration from A Bald Eagle's World

A BALD EAGLE’S WORLD, pp. 10-11,  (PictureWindow Books, 2010)

 A MOOSE’S WORLD, pp. 6-7,  (PictureWindow Books, 2010)

 A POLAR BEAR’S WORLD, pp. 18-19, (PictureWindow Books, 2010)

 A WALRUS’  WORLD, pp. 8-9 and 18-19 , (PictureWindow Books, 2010)

 

PRE-SEPARATED ART: Illustrating My Book THE BIGGEST LIVING THING

 

Black plate illustration for pages 6-7 The Biggest Living Thing (Carolrhoda, 1983) Pencil drawing by Caroline Arnold

Today's children’s books are printed with beautiful full color illustrations created with a vast array of artistic techniques—painting, drawing, collage, photography, mixed-media--basically anything that can be digitally color scanned. Those scans are then used to make the printing plates for the book. Typically there are four plates: black, cyan, magenta, yellow. (These are the same colors in the ink cartridges of your home printer.) On the printed page the colors merge to create a full range of hues.

Pages 20-21 of my book Five Nests (E.P. Dutton, 1980). Illustration by Ruth Sanderson.

But in 1980, when I first started publishing books for children, many were illustrated with black-and-white art, especially if they were nonfiction books, like mine. Digital scanning had not yet been invented and the cost of separating colors photographically to make each of the colored printing plates was so high that only the most established artists worked in full color. Many books were printed with black plus in some cases one or two colors. Five Nests, illustrated by Ruth Sanderson, was my first published book.The art was black, plus one color--green.

For most children’s books in those days, the artist was required to make a separate drawing for each printed color. Thus the art was “pre-separated” not needing expensive photographic separation. It was a technical process, converting the intensity of each color to shades of grey and then calculating how the colors would appear when overlapped on the printed page.

Cover of Sun Fun, an activity book.

My first opportunity to illustrate one of my books was Sun Fun (Franklin Watts, 1982) a book of simple projects about the sun and solar energy. It was a two color book. Obviously, I chose yellow for one of the colors. The other color I chose was red. As they overlapped in the printing I could achieve a range of colors from pink and orange to brown and grey.

Proof sheet for page 39. Squirrels help spread Sequoia seeds.

The second book I illustrated was my book about giant sequoia trees, The Biggest Living Thing (Carolrhoda, 1983.) This also was a two color book. I chose brown and green.

Black pencil drawing for pages 23-24. Space at top is left open for text. This Sequoia stump was so big it could be used as a dance floor.

The primary illustrations for the book were done in black pencil. Then working on a light table I created the pages for the two colors being careful to line up the registration marks to make sure that they would be in the correct places when the pages were printed.

Page 22. Two color art. Black plus green and brown.

The Biggest Living Thing was a 48 page book. I began by doing the black-and-white drawings—24 double-page spreads. With the additional drawings for the two colors I did a total of 72 drawings plus a full color painting for the jacket. It was a lot of work--for not a lot of money. After finishing the project I decided to focus my energy on writing books rather than illustrating them.

Jacket of The Biggest Living Thing. Watercolor painting.

Twenty years later the world had changed. Digital separation made it possible to illustrate without pre-separating. I began to illustrate again, this time using a cut-paper collage technique. But that is another story.

Note: The original art for The Biggest Living Thing is archived in the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota.

KERLAN COLLECTION: Archiving My Book Materials

Kerlan Collection archive, University of Minnesota Libraries

The Kerlan Collection at the Children’s Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota is an internationally recognized center of research in the field of children’s literature. The Collection contains original materials, including manuscripts, artwork, galleys, and color proofs for more than 1,700 children’s book creators. These materials represent over a century of American children’s books and selected titles published in other countries. The Kerlan Collection also includes more than 110,000 children’s books.

The Children's Research Collections are at the Elmer L. Anderson Library 

On my recent trip to Minneapolis, I visited the Kerlan Collection to donate some of my book materials. (Over the years I have made several donations.) It was a delight to talk with Lisa Von Drasek, the Director, and to get a tour of the archives, deep below the library in cavernous light and temperature controlled rooms. 

Special lifts bring librarians up to the top shelves.

Lisa pulled out one box to show me the artist’s dummy for Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parrish, a book that had been a favorite of my children when they were young. The original pen and ink drawings were there, along with blocks of text taped in place, and hand-written comments from the editor. It is a one-of-a-kind treasure.

Artist's dummy for Amelia Bedelia

I am proud to have my work included in the Kerlan Collection. I am now motivated to continue going through my book boxes to organize additional material to donate. 

Books by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Art by Brian Pinkney on Exhibit at the University of Minnesota

Andrea Davis Pinkney, author of more than 20 books for children and young adults, will present the 2014 Arbuthnot Lecture at the Andersen Library at the University of Minnesota on Saturday, May 3, 2014.  An exhibit of her books along with manuscript materials and original illustrations and sketches by her husband and collaborator Brian Pinkney are currently on view at the library.  I was lucky to see this excellent exhibit when I was in Minneapolis last week and was visiting the library to donate some of my books and manuscript materials to the Kerlan Collection, part of the Children’s Literature Research Collections at the library.  The exhibit "Rejoice the Legacy" features SIT-IN: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down and includes a video interview with the author and illustrator.  The book celebrates the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement. 

 The exhibit will on view until May 14, 2014.

Anderson Library, University of Minnesota, as seen from the East Bank Campus