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Canadian Library Association Award Books

Resources for the Study of Canadian Children's Literature

Canadian Children's Illustrated Books in English

This project supported the authorship of Gail Edwards's and Judith Saltman's Picturing Canada: A History of Canadian Children's Illustrated Books and Publishing (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010) The "Resources" section will be of particular value to scholars as it includes valuable lists, bibliographical references and access to a database of works.

The Canadiana Collection: Canadian Children's Books (Toronto Public Library)

This special collection is part of the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books housed in the Lillian H. Smith branch of the Toronto Public Library. This is perhaps the most comprehensive collection of Canadian children's literature in Toronto. In addition to books, the collection includes archives of some Canadian authors and illustrators, and original artwork. The library mounts exhibits and has a modest publishing program.
The Friends of the Osborne Collection supports research and lectures on topics including Canadian children's literature.
Some of the published lectures relate to Canadian authors and artists. See the TMU Library holdings of the Helen E. Stubbs Memorial Lectures.
The Toronto Public Library mounted an exhibit, 27 Jan.-1 April 2007, entitled Picture Perfect: Canadian Picture Book Art from the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. See the virtual exhibit.
Finding aids to many of the authors papers held by the Osborne Collection can be accessed from the bottom of this information page. Some resources are not easily shown in the finding aids. For example, the letter that Roderick Haig-Brown wrote to Jean Thomson, then Head of Boys and Girls House (the children's branch that was replaced by the Lillian H. Smith branch of TPL) concerning his receipt of the Marie Rollet Medal for Starbuck Valley Winter may be in the Boys and Girls House Fonds, Series 1, box 4.1 within the folder labeled Miss Thompson [sic] Canadian Library Association. The letter is referenced as item 165 in the exhibition catalogue prepared by Jill Shefrin: Box of Delights: 600 Years of Children's Books: Based on an Exhibition to Mark the Opening of the New Home for the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books: October 20, 1995-February 10, 1996.

The Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) Regional Collections

Founded in 1976 as a national, not-for-profit organization, The CCBC is dedicated to encouraging, promoting and supporting the reading, writing, illustrating and publishing of Canadian books for young readers.