Collection of Gillett Griffin production materials for A Mouse’s Tale

Gillett Good Griffin (b. 1928) earned his BFA from Yale in 1951. His studies at Yale included a project to write, illustrate, and print his first children’s book, entitled A Mouse’s Tale, which received an award as part of the 1951 American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) annual “50 Best-Designed Books” competition. In 1952 Griffin became curator of Princeton University’s Graphic Arts Collection in the Firestone Library. With the exception of a stint in the late ’50s designing books for Princeton University Press, Griffin remained graphic arts curator until 1966, when he traveled to Mexico to pursue his interests in pre-Columbian art. He returned to Princeton in 1967 in a new role as curator of pre-Columbian and primitive art at the Princeton University Art Museum. In addition to his long career as a curator and teacher at Princeton, Griffin continues as an artist and art collector.