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[MUSIC PLAYING] LAURA WASOWICZ: The 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed an exponential growth in the production of children's books.

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At least 873 titles had been printed in the United States between 1790 and 1799 for children. But in the 1820s, this number more than tripled, and over 3,000 titles were published in the decades

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through 1869. A unique and stunningly beautiful archive of material produced for and sometimes by the children of this key period in the history of juvenile culture

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is now housed at the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Massachusetts. I am Laura Wasowics, Curator of Children's Literature at the American Antiquarian Society.

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Since 1987, I have supervised the cataloguing of our children's literature collection. I actively acquire new items and I have helped generations of researchers

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from a variety of backgrounds to use the collection. Now I want to introduce you to Children's Literature and Culture, an online resource where a substantial amount of this rare archive

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is now accessible digitally. Researchers can now explore over 8,000 digitised items relating to the literature and culture of childhood. These include books, games, and ephemera, and over 1,400 pieces

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of original artwork. The resource begins chronologically in 1820, within 50 years of the start of modern children's book publishing in London, and extends

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into the 1920s, when children's books were produced on a massive industrial scale. It offers researchers unparalleled access to material which is visually and textually

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rich in prevailing attitudes toward gender roles, work, financial awareness, slavery, temperance, illness, religion, and more. The superb metadata, which includes access points

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for subjects, genres, illustrators, printers, and physical formats allows researchers to make a deep dive into material that bridges the long 18th century chapbook and the 20th century book Beautiful.

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Virtually nothing of cultural meaning escapes being touched upon in some way within children's print culture. For this reason, Children's Literature and Culture

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is a useful resource across disciplines. We can probe the essence of a society by examining these texts, much of which are simply worded and visually rich.

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Not only does 19th century children's literature convey society's exterior expectations of children, fear god, do good, be patient, work hard at school and chores, but it also presents, in very clear and visually compelling

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ways, the everyday challenges of existence, such as getting clean water to wash with, struggling with serious illness like tuberculosis, and even facing the death of a parent, one's sibling, oneself.

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Another key aspect of this digitised collection is what it reveals about the interior life of children through inscriptions, drawings, and physical wear found in these books.

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Take, for example, some enthusiastic doodling made over an illustration of a boy standing over a newly broken face, or the proud inscription of ownership made by African Native American teenager Ann

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Plato in her composition textbook. In a few short years, Plato would write a collection of biographies and poems about and for young people of colour. Finally, this digital collection contains a seemingly endless

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array of visuals illustrating in stunning detail aspects of 19th century American life, like play, pets, gender roles, and occupations. Besides books and book art, Children's Literature

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and Culture also features child-related visuals found in pictorial sheet music covers, and childhood ephemera, including paper dolls and rewards of merit, books printed as advertisements,

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and stereograph cards showing photographic images of children. Much of this material has never been reproduced digitally before, and certainly not as a substantial collection.

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Most importantly, each item has detailed metadata designed to provide the most consistently complete intellectual access to the material. The resource also includes scholarly essays, exhibitions,

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and interviews, which will benefit potential users from undergraduate level researchers to seasoned scholars. The vast array of carefully conserved and digitised

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material within Children's Literature and Culture opens a wealth of opportunity for teaching and research, and allows users to immerse themselves in the rich history of childhood.