HATTIESBURG — Katie Herndon, curator of the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi, opens a box and pulls out several original illustrations of “Curious George.” They are as fresh and captivating as the little monkey’s mischief in the classic books by H.A. and Margret Rey.
Inside a folder, she carefully thumbs through pages to find letters between H.A. Rey and Albert Einstein, and a receipt of Rey’s contribution to the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists.
In McCain Library’s de Grummond Manuscript Room, Herndon pulls down another box from towering stacks, lifts its lid and reveals Ezra Jack Keats’ brilliant collage art that illustrated his 1962 classic “The Snowy Day.”
Collection founder Lena de Grummond, left, connects with young readers in this detail of a wall art collage in McCain Library at USM. Just behind her is a photo of author/illustrator Ezra Jack Keats. Credit: Sherry LucasThe book’s prestigious Caldecott Medal win, top prize for an illustrator in the U.S., was a first for a picture book with an African American main character and a breakthrough for minority representation in mainstream children’s publishing. “The Snowy Day” remains the most checked-out book of all time from the New York Public Library.
A more recent bequest from Diana Klemin, longtime art director at Doubleday and friend of the collection, included never-before-shown Andy Warhol originals predating his Pop Art stardom. Warhol’s sketches showed “exciting promise,” an editor noted in a letter that “most reluctantly” rejected the picture book manuscript they illustrated. A future exhibition is planned.
Katie Herndon, curator of the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at USM, shows off original illustrations for the classic children’s book “Curious George.” Credit: Sherry LucasCharm and history often nestle side by side in the de Grummond Collection, which marks its 60th anniversary this year.
This year also marks the 85th birthday of “Curious George,” first published in 1941. The Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson celebrated that occasion with cookies and photos with Curious George in the Kids Tent and a hands-on activity inspired by H.A. Rey’s love of the stars.
Lena de Grummond (1900-1987) started the collection in 1966 after capping a career in library science in her native Louisiana with 15 years as the state supervisor of school libraries for the Louisiana State Department of Education. During that time, she earned her doctorate in library science at Louisiana State University, graduating the same year her son got his bachelor’s degree, in 1956.
Retirement in 1965 just pushed her in a new direction.
Curious George and Caiden Gibbs of Jackson share a moment in the Kids Tent at Saturday’s Mississippi Book Festival. Credit: Sherry Lucas“She decided she wasn’t done,” Herndon said. “She didn’t actually want to stop working.”
USM was the site for her second career as a professor teaching children’s literature in the School of Library Science. Her once weekly, four-hour graduate course drew students, mostly working adults, from all over, Herndon said.
“She wanted the best for those students. She was preparing them to be future librarians, and we didn’t have a children’s collection at all.”
Their professor fixed that, with permission to found a special collection of children’s books and original manuscripts, and the persistence to work her lifetime of contacts.
“She did it the old-fashioned way, and I mean, really old-fashioned way, by writing letters,” said de Grummond Collection Curator Emeritus Ellen Ruffin.
“She started buying books,” Herndon said, “and writing to authors and illustrators of those books and saying, ‘Hey, I’m buying your books, I’m building this collection. Do you have some stuff you’re done with, that you could donate to us? If you’ve thrown it in the trash can already, send us the trash can. We’ll dig it out.’
Katie Herndon, curator of the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at USM, shows off original illustrations for the classic children’s book “Curious George.” Credit: Sherry Lucas“Her record was writing 500 a week,” Herndon said. “She was definitely a charmer, judging from these letters, and she made friends with all these people.”
Herndon recalled a mention in one letter of a three-month visit to England, her goal to visit every author and illustrator she could find and managing to visit 35 people. “She was really putting in time with everybody.”
Ruffin recalled her interviews with de Grummond’s students for the collection’s 40th anniversary, and their tales of what a thrill it was as boxes of materials came in that included original illustrations, original manuscripts and illustrated correspondence.
“A lot of people answered,” Herndon said. Some worried about 1966 Mississippi, segregation and the possibility that donated items could be off limits to some. “She wrote back to whoever questioned that and said, ‘I am building this for all the teachers, all the children, all the librarians in Mississippi and beyond.’”
The Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at USM each spring started in 1968 as a way to highlight the collection. Hosted by the USM School of Library and Information Science, the event brings the best in children’s literature to campus for celebration and honors.
A portrait of collection founder Lena de Grummond is on display in McCain Library at USM. Credit: Sherry LucasThe USM Medallion recognizing authors and illustrators for their total body of work and the Ezra Jack Keats Award highlighting a new picturebook author and a new illustrator for outstanding work are presented at the festival. Keats, Judy Blume and Dav Pilkey are past medallion recipients. The Keats Foundation and the de Grummond Collection co-administer the Ezra Jack Keats Award. Seeds are planted at the festival, too.
“We get to meet new authors and illustrators at the very beginning of their careers and then, if things go the way we hope they will, we stay in touch with those people and, of course, watch their careers (reach their) zenith,” Ruffin said. “Then, they often mentioned to us that they would like their papers to come to the de Grummond collection.”
The collection’s main concentration is American and British children’s literature, historical and contemporary, but diversity is woven in from the beginning, Herndon said, with creators from China, Jamaica, Canada, Brazil and more represented.
The collection is a key resource for children’s literature scholars, for those working on biographies of authors and illustrators and for graduate students. Sometimes, aspiring illustrators come to look at original art for picture books, Herndon said, “to see how someone else did it.” Documentary filmmakers and podcasters also reach out with requests.
It is one of North America’s leading research centers in children’s literature. Ruffin speculated that founder Lena de Grummond “would probably not be surprised, if I’m going to be honest,” she said, “because she truly was driven to create the best possible children’s literature archive that she could.” Practices and principles she started carry through to this day.
The de Grummond Collection now holds more than 1,400 original papers collections and about 250,000 books, Herndon said.
“And, more come in every day. Literally, every day.”
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