Original Illustrations for Children's Literature
The Collection of Original Illustrations for Children’s Literature has nearly 4,000 works, including original drawings and preparatory materials that document the book making process. Recognizing that children’s first exposure to art is often through illustrated books, the collection began in 1979 through a partnership with Rutgers’ Council on Children’s Literature to preserve and promote the work of twentieth-century American illustrators.
More than 100 illustrators—many with New Jersey connections—are represented, including Adrienne Adams, Frank Asch, Maginel Wright Barney, Tony Chen, Harry Devlin, Diane and Leo Dillon, Elizabeth Enright, Lois Lenski, Petra Mathers, Takayo Noda, and Jean and Mou-sien Tseng. Over half the collection features work by acclaimed children’s author and illustrator Roger Duvoisin, including drawings for his Caldecott Medal-winning book White Snow, Bright Snow (1947) and numerous other works spanning his forty-year career.
The museum’s Duvoisin Gallery, named in honor of the artist through the generosity of his family, features several exhibitions each year selected from this collection.
