BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Dibner Library Exhibit: Little Golden Books

DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Dibner Library Exhibit: Little Golden Books:

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Description of Pictures: Little Golden Books
June 28, 2013 – January 5, 2014
Learn how Little Golden Books transformed children’s reading habits and became a catalyst for change in reading standards and traditions in the early 20th century. Prior to World War II, large-format, classic story books for children were prohibitively expensive and available to a privileged few. Little Golden Books (LGB) offered new ideas and modern stories in an affordable format; they addressed themes of fantasy versus reality, modernity, and gender roles, as well as addressing topics like progressive education, marketing, and impact.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. LITTLE_131103_001.JPG: The Art of Little Golden Books In October 1942, the New York publishing firm Simon & Schuster, the Artists and Writers Guild, and the Western Printing and Lithographing Company of Racine, Wisconsin, joined forces to create a new series of children's books especially suited to beginning readers between the ages of 3 and 8. Inexpensive, sturdy, and child-centered, Little Golden Books represented an enormous shift in thinking about how, where, and what children should read. High-quality, lavishly illustrated children's books of the early 20th century were too expensive for most families to own, and generally only available in libraries and schools. When Little Golden Books were introduced, they could be purchased at bookstores and department stores. After World War II, Simon & Schuster launched a new marketing plan that featured specially designed display units and began selling books in five-and-dime chains, groceries, and drugstores. Brightly colored and priced at only 25 cents, Little Golden Books were designed to be financially and intellectually accessible to all children. In 1992, in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary, Western Publishing Company generously donated a collection of nearly 500 original illustrations, books, puzzles, coloring books, and games to the National Museum of American History. On exhibit here is a small sampling of early illustrations from books that have provided memories for generations of children and adults.
2. LITTLE_131103_009.JPG: The first twelve Little Golden Books measured 6-3/4 x 8 inches, with large, simple print and brightly colored images. The names of the author and illustrator were moved inside the book to keep the cover design uncluttered. The interior also featured a book plate the encouraged children to identify who the booked belonged to. The pages were stapled together, bound with a narrow blue spine, and protected with a decorative dust jacket. Paper shortages after World War II led Western Publishing to abandon the dust jacket in favor of a stiff, shiny cardboard binding accentuated with the now-famous golden foil spine.
3. LITTLE_131103_023.JPG: Susie's New Stove 1950 Illustrated by Corinne Malvern (1901–1956) Come Play House 1948 Illustrated by Eloise Wilkin (1904–1987) Books like Come Play House and Susie's New Stove modeled appropriate adult behavior for young learners. Children's books reflect the values of the greater society in which they are created, and Little Golden Books showed children as "little grownups" attending to the duties of caring for home and family. The female characters in many Little Golden Books personify the cultural norms that characterized women's roles in the 1950s.
4. LITTLE_131103_049.JPG: The Backstory: Progressive Education: New ideas about education in the early 20th century served as a catalyst for the creation of the Little Golden Books. The progressive reform movements of the 1920s challenged the restrictive theories and methodologies of the American educational system. Promoted advocated for a "democratization of education" that included easier access to books for all children. In an America rapidly growing and diversifying, literacy was seen as essential to nurturing more engaged and active citizens. In the 1930s, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt called attention to the importance of reading to children. In her syndicated newspaper column My Day, Mrs. Roosevelt urged family reading time as a means to enlighten and nurture developing minds, as well as a way to bolster family morale and provide a sense of normalcy for young children experiencing the fear and uncertainty of war. The National Museum of American History is home to nearly 500 of the original drawings from Little Golden Books. They represent a commercial bonanza that transformed the children's book from a rare, treasured object to a part of every American middle-class home.
5. LITTLE_131103_056.JPG: Two Little Miners 1949 Illustrated by Richard Scarry (1919–1994) Richard Scarry's images of the two little miners highlighted and celebrated the life of the everyday working man. Many Little Golden Books explored the occupations thought of as essential to civil society -- fireman, policeman, mailman -- and encouraged children to observe, identify, and admire them.
6. LITTLE_131103_071.JPG: Gaston and Josephine 1949 Illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky (1891–1970) Gaston and Josephine chronicles the escapades of two French pigs who run away from their homeland and sail to America. The story mimics the life of illustrator Feodor Rojankovsky -- - a Russian �migr� who fled Europe in 1937 to escape increasing political unrest and found a home in the growing children's literature market in New York. Rojankovsky's human-like animals bridge the old world fairy-tale style of European illustration and the more realistic perspective of later Little Golden Books.
7. LITTLE_131103_093.JPG: Nurse Nancy 1952 Doctor Dan the Bandage Man 1950 Illustrated by Corinne Malvern (1901–1956) Little Lulu and her Magic Tricks 1954 Illustrated by Marjorie Henderson Buell (1904–1993) Some of the most famous Little Golden Books were early experiments in product placement. In addition to teaching basic safety tips to young children, the Doctor Dan and Nurse Nancy books included junior-size Johnson & Johnson Band- Aids. The front cover of Little Lulu and Her Magic Tricks contained a small package of Kleenex tissues. A well-known cartoon character, Little Lulu promoted Kleenex's practical use, but also demonstrated how tissues could be used to make people, animals, or flowers.
8. LITTLE_131103_123.JPG: Here Comes the Parade 1951 Illustrated by Richard Scarry (1919–1994) In Here Comes the Parade, Richard Scarry's illustrations bring to life the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and its many sights and sounds, including a safety-conscious policeman, spectators of all ages, marching bands, and balloon characters from Howdy Doody to Mickey Mouse. Many Little Golden Books focused on stories of everyday life from a child's perspective -- the "here and now" -- rather than the fairy tales, folk tales, and nursery rhymes that had previously dominated children's literature.
9. LITTLE_131103_153.JPG: The Taxi that Hurried 1946 Make Way for the Thruway 1961 Illustrated by Tibor Gergely (1900–1978) Tibor Gergely was an established artist in Budapest when he fled at the outbreak of World War II and found safe haven in New York. The illustrations from The Taxi that Hurried re-create the hustle and bustle of postwar New York City, including its variety of people and modes of transportation. Make Way for the Thruway chronicled the men and machines who built America's highways to accommodate the country's growing love affair with the car.
10. LITTLE_131103_165.JPG: Though some early Little Golden Books showed ethnic and racial diversity, most depicted minorities in stereotypes that reflected the culture of the time. This started to change in the 1960s, following ongoing pressure from civil rights organizations for publishers to be more inclusive.
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2013 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000 and Nikon D600. Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Memphis, TN, Jackson, MS [to which I added a week to to visit sites in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee], and Richmond, VA), and my 8th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including sites in Nevada and California). Ego Strokes: Aviva Kempner used my photo of her as her author photo in Larry Ruttman's "American Jews & America's Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball" book. Number of photos taken this year: just over 570,000.
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