- Introducing the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature
- A guided tour of the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature
- Rare Books in the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature
- Publishers’ Archives in the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature
- Research material in the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature
- Art Collection in the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature
- Creative process in developing picture books
- References, Journals, Magazines and Catalogues
- National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature book collection
In the below short video Dr Belle Alderman gives us the backstory for the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature. This is the first in a series of videos that showcase a little known literary collection started by one volunteer whose work has been carried on by Belle and other volunteers.
I’m filled with admiration for the invaluable work of these volunteers and the University of Canberra that has supported their work. When is the government going to fund this essential resource to provide salaries and a building worthy of this collection?
The National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature is on Twitter and has a website.
Their website says of their collection:
The Centre houses over 28,000 books including rare items, 3,800 overseas translations in 53 languages, the NSW School Magazine (dating back to 1916), theses, authors’, illustrators’ and publishers’ papers and artwork. The collection has been largely built by donations, in the first instance by publishers who, since 1981, have donated the majority of their children’s books published; and in the second instance by private donations from authors, illustrators, individuals and organisations.
Unique in Australia, are over 450 (December 2015) research files of materials on authors, illustrators, publishers and critics which contain, depending on the individual file, published material such as reviews and articles, as well as a range of items such as background research documents, promotional material, correspondence, audio recordings, and photographs plus the usual biographical and bibliographical material.
A donation in 1992 by critic and publisher Walter McVitty enhanced the collection by some 1,500 titles, significantly strengthening holdings in the 1950s and 1960s, and filling gaps in the nearly complete holdings of works by major Australian authors and illustrators.
The special strength of the Centre is that all the related material has been gathered together in one readily accessible and publicly available place. As a broad and in-depth collection, the Archives provides a particularly rich and comprehensive overview of Australian children’s literature, its creation and publishing endeavour.
