Secret Lives of Toys at UAlbany

The University Libraries’ M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives is hosting an exhibit talk “The Secret Lives of Toys and Their Friends: Selections from the Miriam Snow Mathes Historical Children’s Literature Collection” on Wednesday March 28, 2007 at 3:00 PM. Kali M.D. Roy, graduate student assistant and exhibit curator, will discuss her ideas and inspiration for this exhibit that is drawn from the Mathes Historical Children’s Literature Collection) and features a small sampling of historical children’s literature about adventures based on the lives of living toys or objects, and stories from a toy's point of view.

The over fifty items in the physical exhibit are from approximately the 1850-1950 period and highlights the potential scholarly uses of the Mathes Collection. Located in the University’s Department of Special Collections & Archives, the Miriam Snow Mathes Historical Children's Literature Collection includes over 10,000 children's books and periodicals published in the 19th century and up to 1960. The collection is strong in the literature of the first half of the 20th century, but there is also extensive coverage of the 19th century, the latter half in particular. There is an especially strong concentration on neglected and forgotten works published in the United States, 1875–1950. The central purpose of the Mathes Collection is to provide the texts of works that are generally no longer available in children's library collections today–and to make them available for historical, literary and cultural study and consultation by scholars, students, teachers, librarians and the interested public. The Mathes Collection is named for Miriam Snow Mathes, Class of '26, who had a continuing interest in the Historical Children's Literature Collection. Ms. Mathes, who was a lifelong student, librarian, and teacher of children's literature, established an endowment fund in 1993 to provide continuing support for the collection.

The exhibit is available through May 2007 during normal hours for the Department of Special Collections & Archives, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Monday – Friday


When: Wednesday March 28, 2007 at 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Location: M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives, Science Library, Room 350 Web site
Cost: Free

RSVP appreciated. Contact Brian Keough, (518) 437-3931 or bkeough@albany.edu