Beware the Woods: Children’s Books of the Past
From cautionary tales to spelling books and fairy stories, Rhode Island Special Collections Libraries care for a treasury of children’s books. This year the R.I. Center for the Book’s Art of the Book Program will celebrate the books intended for young minds and eyes.
Keynote Lecture : “Vivid Imaginations: the History of the McLoughlin Bros.”
Laura E. Wasowicz, Curator of Children’s Literature at the American Antiquarian Society, will profile the firm that pioneered color printing technologies in the mid-19th century and gave us the children’s picture book as we now know it.
Date: 2pm, Saturday, September 28, 2013
Location: John Carter Brown Library, 94 George St., Providence, R.I.
Contact: Kate Lentz at kate@ribook.org
Official Sponsors
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities
American Printing History Association, New England Chapter
John Russell Bartlett Society
Download The 2013 Art of the Book Events Calendar
Exhibits from the Collections of
RI Libraries and Institutions:
John Carter Brown Library
New World, New Eyes: America in Early Children’s Books
Dates: September-October
Location: John Carter Brown Library, 94 George St., Providence, R.I.
Contact: 401.863.2725 or kimberly_nusco@brown.edu
Also see the online exhibition
Newport Historical Society
The Children’s Hour: Three Centuries of Children’s Books and Texts from the Collections of the Newport Historical Society
The Newport Historical Society presents a selection of children’s books and printed materials from its collection. Highlights include the works of Newport authors, children’s educational texts, cautionary tales, and examples of young adult literature.
Location: Brick Market, Museum of Newport History, 127 Thames Street, Newport, R.I.
Dates: October 1, 2013 – January 2014
Contact: 401.841.8770 or info@newporthistorical.org
Pettaquamscutt Historical Society
How Do You Spell Adventure? Schoolbooks and Storybooks of the 19th Century
PHS will present two displays: 1) a cabinet display of storybooks exhibiting anthologies of fairy / morality tales, alongside children’s classics such as Robinson Crusoe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Boy’s Book of Adventure, and the like, and 2) a display within the schoolroom exhibit that showcases leveled readers and spellers used in early public educational institutions.
Dates: September 21- October 26
Location: Old Washington County Jail Museum & Library, 2636 Kingstown Road, Kingston, R.I.
Contact: 401.783.1328 or washingtoncountyhistory@gmail.com
Providence Athenaeum 
The Fantastic Forest: An Excursion through the Old Juveniles Collection
Dates: October 1-31
Location: Philbrick Rare Book Room, 251 Benefit St., Providence, R.I.
Contact: 401.421.6970
Providence Public Library
Magic and Lewis Carroll: Lecture and magic performance by Chris Morgan
Event co-sponsored by the John Russell Bartlett Society and the Ticknor Society. Includes an exhibition of materials from the Providence Public Library’s magic and children’s collections.
Date: Saturday, October 5th, 10:30 am
Location: Providence Public Library, 150 Empire St., Providence, R.I.
Contact: 401.455.8021 or jgoffin@provlib.org
Redwood Library and Athenaeum
Illustrated Children’s Books from Special Collections
Date: August 30-September 30
Location: Children’s Library, Redwood Library and Athenaeum, 10 Redwood St., Newport, R.I.
Contact: 401.847.0292
Rhode Island Historical Society
Little Benjamin, or, Confess your Faults: Children’s Rhode Island Imprints
The RIHS library spotlights the Rhode Island imprints that influenced the young minds of the 18th and early 19th Centuries.
Date: September 4 – October 20
Online Exhibit: “Mechanical Paper Dolls”, www.rihs.org
Location: RIHS Library. 121 Hope St., Providence, R.I.
Contact: 401.273.8107 x412 or psbean@rihs.org
Rhode Island School of Design Library
Cloaked in Sentiment: 19th Century Cautionary Tales for Children
Childhood in the 19th century was often over sentimentalized and viewed as a time of innocence. With such tender minds, young children needed a moral compass to guide them. Beneath the Victorian illustrations of sweet smiling children or inspiring heroic figures were tales that carried an undertone of stern moralizing, filled with idealized rewards and fearful punishments. Obedience, piety, virtue, manners, and gratitude were lessons for a lifetime.
Dates: September 9 – December 6
Location: Fleet Library at RISD, 15 Westminster Street, Providence, R.I.
Contact: Special Collections, 401.709.5923
Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society
To Prepare The Senses And Minds Of The Children: 19th Century Schoolbooks and Pedagogy
Location: Paine House Museum, 7 Station Street, Coventry, R.I.
Dates: 1 pm, Sat. Sept. 28. Open each Sat. 10am-1pm from Oct. 5-26.
Contact: 401.250.4594 or wrichs.archive@gmail.com