Children's Literature: Online Resources

Library Subscription Databases

• American Periodical Series (APS)  Digitized images of the pages of American periodicals from 1740 to 1900.  From starting page, click “Search for Periodicals.”  Click "Browse Subjects" to see subject headings; select “Children’s Literature,” click search to see 27 titles.  User may also search for subjects or keywords within a title or group of titles.  APS periodicals are also held in microfilm format; check MARQCAT for years and drawer location.
• Early American Imprint Series 1: Evans, 1639-1800.  Also known as the "Evans Bibliography".  Full text database of publications from colonial America and the early republic (1639-1800).  You may Browse by Genre and select “Juvenile Literature,” "Spellers", etc.  Note the ability to search by keyword within the genre.  Or, Browse by Subjects, select category: “Literature,” and select from sub-headings such as “Children’s Literature,” “Children’s Poetry,” “Children’s Stories,” “Fables,” or “Fairy Tales.”
• Everyday Life of Women of Women in America, 1820-1900.  Includes both books and periodicals, most aimed at women and some at adolescents.  One periodical for youth is The Rose Bud, or Youth's Gazette, published in Charleston, 1832-34.  Nice digital images for browsing.
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) has a wealth of books for children in full image; however the searcher must begin with known authors and titles, of keyword in titles, such as "spelling."  Try, for example, Aesop or John Bunyon's A Book for Boys and Girls.
• Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains virtually everything published in England or British North America 1473-1700; however same cautions as ECCO. Try for example titles The Booke of Meery Riddles (1629) or The Young Mans Looking Glass (1641)
• Literature Online (LION) Begin on the "Criticism" search page to find secondary articles in scholarly journals about topics in children's literature history.

Free Web Sites of Digital Children's Literature

• Baldwin Library of Children’s Literature Digital Collection  The Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature at the University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries contains both English and American books from the early 1700s through the current year.  The digital collection numbers 2,500 books and also includes the popular American magazine, St. Nicholas Magazine (1873-1941), which first serialized many children’s classics.  Users may conduct simple or advanced searches; browse all titles; browse by genres such as alphabet books, fables, and school stories; and conduct searches within subcategories.
• Merrycoz.  About 19^th Century American children and what they read.  Primarily an index to periodicals c.1800-1872: Youth's Companion  Juvenile Gazette (Providence, RI) Parley's Magazine Youth's Magazine (Cincinnati, OH) The Slave's Friend Robert Merry's Museum Woodworth's Youth's Cabinet The Student The Schoolmate Student and Schoolmate Our Young Folks The Little Corporal  Site also contains a small collection of html text (and some images) from about 2 dozen books
• Children's Literature: Digitized print material from the Rare Book Room, Library of Congress.  19th and early 20th c. with "page turner" pdf presentation
• 19th Century Schoolbooks; 140 textbooks from the Prof. John Neitz collection at the University of Pittsburgh.
• 19th Century Girls' Series.  Biography, bibliography and selected e-texts (mostly html) from popular series
• Sunday School Books: Shaping the Values of Youth in Nineteenth-Century America (Library of Congress American Memory) 163 books published in America between 1815 and 1865 documenting the religious instruction of Antebellum youth.  Complete html text and related page images.
• International Children’s Digital Library  Digital Library of children’s books (about 2,500) from the 1500’s to present day in 41 different languages.  From home page, go to “Read Books,” then click “Advanced Search” to search by publication date or a variety of other features.
• E-Books for Young Readers (E-Texts Center at the University of Virginia); large collection of 19th and 20th century works in html ("Web version") with selected illustrations
• Children's Books Online: The Rosetta Project: nice collection of late 19th c. and early 20th c. books with rough genre categories, but otherwise not very accessible except for browsing.  See for example The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1888) and Frances and Henry (1880).
• Digital Dime Novels (University of Minnesota Libraries) About 15 complete novels (pdf) from the late 1800s to early 20th c.  Examples include "The Young Marooner" from Brave and Bold Weekly (1908) and "Log Cabin Library" (1889-97)
• Elizabeth Nesbitt Room Nineteenth Century Juvenile Magazine Collection (University of Pittsburgh)  About 85 U.S. and British periodicals published between 1802 and 1943.  Includes title index, publisher’s index and bibliography. Nice collection of covers, but Not full text.
• Internet Archive: Children’s Library  These digital books have been collected from other public sites listed above, but the interface is attractive for browsing.

Selected Sources in Raynor Memorial Libraries

American Writers for Children before 1900 (Dictionary of Literary Biography v. 42, Gale Research, 1985) Raynor Reference PN451 .D535 v. 42

Children's Books in England: Five Centuries of Social Life. F. J. Harvey Darton (3d ed., Cambridge University Press, 1982) Memorial Level 5  PR990 .D3 1982