Scope and Contents
The collection documents the work of Leonard S. Marcus, including the research, writing, and publication of books, articles, and other short works; work as contributing editor and children’s literature reviewer at Parenting magazine; the curation of exhibitions at the New York Public Library and Eric Carle Museum for Picture Book Art; and trusteeship of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. The collection also contains Marcus’s personal and professional correspondence and small amounts of photographs, publishing promotional materials, historic book and toy catalogs, posters, and other printed ephemera. Includes audio recordings and notes from Marcus’s interviews with prominent children’s literature authors, illustrators, and publishers, including Maurice Sendak, Judy Blume, and Madeleine L’Engle.
A significant portion of the papers documents Marcus’s research, writing, and publication of Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon (Morrow, 1992), a biography of Goodnight Moon author Margaret Wise Brown. Includes papers pertaining to Marcus’s other books, including Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom (HarperCollins, 1998); Author Talk (Simon & Schuster, 2000); Storied City: A Children's Book-Walking Tour Guide to New York City (Dutton, 2003); The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy (Candlewick, 2006); Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children’s Literature (Houghton Mifflin, 2008); Funny Business: Conversations with Writers of Comedy (Candlewick, 2009); Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine L’Engle in Many Voices (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012); and Show Me A Story! Why Picture Books Matter (Candlewick, 2012).
The collection also includes papers concerning Marcus’s shorter works, including articles, reviews, forewords, and talks. Also present are papers concerning Marcus’s work with museums and exhibitions, including The Picture Book Made New: Margaret Wise Brown and Her Illustrators at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (2005) and The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter at the New York Public Library (2013-2014). Clippings, photographs, audiovisual materials, and electronic media related to Marcus's life and work are present throughout.
Dates
- circa 1850-2015
- Majority of material found within 1975 - 2015
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
This material is open for research. Boxes 70-90 (audiovisual material): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information. Boxes 69, 91 (digital media): Restricted fragile material. Access copies of digital files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Ownership & Copyright
The Leonard S. Marcus Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Cumberland Rare Books on the Jockey Hollow Fund, 2015; and gift of Leonard S. Marcus (Yale 1972), 2016.
Arrangement
Arranged into two groupings: September 2015 Acquisition and August 2016 Acquisition.
Extent
113.75 Linear Feet (102 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The collection documents the work of Leonard S. Marcus, including the research, writing, and publication of books, articles, and other short works; work as contributing editor and children’s literature reviewer at Parenting magazine; the curation of exhibitions at the New York Public Library and Eric Carle Museum for Picture Book Art; and trusteeship of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. The collection also contains Marcus’s personal and professional correspondence and small amounts of photographs, publishing promotional materials, historic book and toy catalogs, posters, and other printed ephemera. Includes audio recordings and notes from Marcus’s interviews with prominent children’s literature authors, illustrators, and publishers, including Maurice Sendak, Judy Blume, and Madeleine L’Engle.
Leonard S. Marcus (1950- )
Leonard S. Marcus (1950- ) (Yale 1972) is an American critic and scholar of children’s literature. Marcus received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University in 1972, a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Iowa Graduate Writers Workshop in Poetry in 1974, and an honorary doctorate of human letters from Bank Street College of Education in 2007.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections as they are acquired, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and minimal organization. Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing. This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Audiovisual materials -- United States -- 20th century
- Authors, American -- 20th century
- Born digital -- United States -- 20th Century
- Brown, Margaret Wise, 1910-1952
- Children's literature, American -- 20th century
- Illustrators -- United States
- L'Engle, Madeleine
- Marcus, Leonard S., 1950-
- Nordstrom, Ursula
- Sendak, Maurice
- Title
- Guide to the Leonard S. Marcus Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Stephanie Bredbenner
- Date
- 2018 October
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.