LibraryGeorge J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives

From the early 1800s until the present, a number of Bowdoin graduates have been writing children's literature. Among the earliest are Jacob and John S. C. Abbott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry W. Longfellow. Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair: A History for Youth, Famous Old People, and Liberty Tree appeared in 1841; in 1842, Biographical Stories for Children; in 1852, A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys; and, in 1853, Tanglewood Tales. Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith,"1840; The Song of Hiawatha, 1855; The Courtship of Miles Standish, 1858; and "Paul Revere's Ride," 1863, were elementary school staples for many years.

Several other Bowdoin graduates who have written stories for children and young adults are represented in the Bowdoin College Authors Collection, including Charlotte Agell (Bowd. 1981), who writes for younger children; Arthur C. Bartlett (Bowd. 1922), whose stories are about working dogs and horses; Clarence B. Burleigh (Bowd. 1887), whose subjects are primarily boys in the northern Maine outdoors and in lumbering camps; and Robin McKinley (Bowd. 1975), who writes fantasy and adapts stories such as those of Beauty and the Beast, Black Beauty, Robin Hood, and Tales from the Jungle Book.

The Maine Imprints Collection includes a complete run of The Juvenile Key (later titled The Family Pioneer and Juvenile Key), published at the press of Joseph Griffin in Brunswick, Maine, from 1830 to 1836. This early children's periodical was wholly oriented toward what young readers were supposed to like, and the typesetting, proof reading, and make-up for the entire six years of publication were done by two of Mr. Griffin's children, who were aged nine and seven when publication began.

Major holdings:

• Elijah Kellogg Collection
• Charles Asbury Stephens Collection
• Kate Douglas Wiggin Collection

See also:

• Abbott Memorial Collection
• Henry Beston Collection
• Harold M. Goralnick Pop-Up Book Collection

Description of bookplate

Elijah Kellogg Collection:

Approximately eighty-five editions of adventure stories for boys written by Elijah Kellogg (1813-1901), a member of Bowdoin's Class of 1840. His papers are also housed in the department.

Charles Asbury Stephens Collection:

Includes thirty-eight titles for boys by Stephens (1844-1931), a member of Bowdoin's Class of 1869, and a writer for the Youth's Companion for more than forty years. The manuscripts of many of his articles and a few letters are also available.

Kate Douglas Wiggin Collection:

More than 150 volumes of the writings of Kate Douglas Wiggin (Bowd. hon. 1904), including both her children's tales and works on the kindergarten movement in America, and 300 volumes inscribed to her by friends such as Helen Keller, James Whitcomb Riley, James M. Barrie, Eugene Field, Kenneth Graham, Sinclair Lewis, and Booth Tarkington. Literary manuscripts, letters, and scrapbooks are also in the collections.