FROM INSTRUCTION TO DELIGHT
Patricia Demers:
As a member of the Department of English at the University of Alberta for over three decades, I have enjoyed the wonderful privilege of teaching courses and supervising research in areas ranging from medieval cycle plays to postmodern narratives. My research interests range from children's literature to early modern literature (The World of Hannah More, University Press of Kentucky, 1996, Women's Writing in English: Early Modern England, University of Toronto Press, 2005, and a new edition of Hannah More's Coelebs in search of a wife: comprehending observations on domestic habits and manners, religion and morals, Broadview, 2007), to contemporary experimental plays (Staging Alternative Albertas, Playwrights Canada Press, 2002).
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Children's Literature Resources:
Follow the links below to some excellent online resources on children's literature in each category.
ANTHOLOGIES AND WEBSITES OF EARLY CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
History of Childhood Bibliography
British Library Children's Literature Collection: This site concisely and briefly describes the state of children's literature in each of the seventeenth through twentieth centuries and highlights rare books from each period in the library's collection. It also has section on fairy tales and images of/from some of the books.
Opie Collection of Children's Literature, Bodleian Library: The Opie Collection page is a link from the Rare Books page. There is no history of or information on the collection provided. The Opie page consists of a contents of the collection organized first by period (pre-1850 and post-1850) and then by genre (e.g. stories, books of introduction, etc.) and then catalogued alphabetically. There is no search tool.
Centre for the History of Childhood, Modern History Faculty, University of Oxford: The stated aim of the centre is "to promote research into the history of childhood and to encourage links between historians and childcare professionals".
Historical Children's Literature Collection, University of Washington: This collection, which contains over 3,000 volumes, brings together all the early European and American books produced for children, and chronicles by example the history of reading and the changing definition of childhood. The collection includes books from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.
UBC Rare Books and Special Collections Children's Literature page: This website lists the collections of children's literature held by the University of British Columbia, including the Arkley Collection of Historical Children's Literature and Historical Textbook collection. The Arkley collection includes British and North American children's books from late eighteenth century to 1930. The Historical Textbook collection includes books from the eighteenth century to 1930. This website also has links to other “Children's Literature on the Web” sites.
Picturing Childhood: Illustrated Children's Books from University of California Collections, 1550-1990: This website contains information on the evolution of the illustrated children's book, including short essays on “Establishing Traditions”, “Publishing for Children”, “Movable and Pop-Up Books, Toys, and Games”, “Nineteenth-Century Illustrators”, and “The Twentieth Century”. This is a well-laid-out site that is easy to read and navigate with plenty of visuals of the books and illustrations in question.
Arkley Collection of Historical Children's Literature, University of British Columbia, Special Collections and University Archives Division: This National Library page describes the collection and lists books that describe the collection.
The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books, Toronto Public Library: There is a very brief description of some of the highlights of the collection on this website, which has recently been catalogued and can now be searched through the TPL catalogue search engine.
Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature, University of Florida: This collection at the University of Florida contains more than 93,000 volumes published in Great Britain and the United States from the early 1700s through the 1990s. The stated aim of the collection is to supply the researcher with the opportunity to explore the following areas of children's literature and children's history: education and upbringing; family and gender roles; civic values; racial, religious, and moral attitudes; literary style and format; and the arts of illustration and book design. The website is small but has a search engine to allow researchers to explore catalogue holdings and includes information on the separate holdings that make up the larger collection.
EARLY LESSONS AT HOME AND SCHOOL
Virtual Museum of Education Iconics, University of Minnesota: While there is a small amount of text (2 paragraphs) regarding the history of Medieval education, there are several images of medieval books and woodcuts depicting medieval education that are very instructive. This site also links to an equivalent site on Renaissance and Humanist education.
Renaissance Education
Renaissance Education, University of Victoria: This is a small site with a brief introduction to literacy in the Renaissance, education of boys, education of girls, and the universities.
Renaissance Motherhood by Erica M. Lell, supported by University of Miami: This site contains pages on "Ghost" Mothers, Mother's Legacy, Heroic Maternity, Conduct & Parenting, Pregnancy, Birth, & Infant Care, and "Malevolent Nurture". The page most related to Renaissance education is the "Mother's Legacy", which deals with mothers' written teachings for their children. The mothers discussed are Elizabeth Grymeston, Dorothy (Kemp) Leigh, and Elizabeth (Brooke) Joceline.
Ascham, Roger
The Scholemaster, Electronic Text Centre, University of Virginia Libraries
Roger Ascham by Luminarium: This is a small site with minimal graphics. The site is part of a larger website with pages on Mediaeval through seventeenth-century lit. All of the material on the site is sourced. The Ascham page is most notable for its links to two complete and one partial e-version of The Scholemaster.
The Scholemaster, Renascence Editions supported by the University of Oregon
E-text version
Book I
Book II
Chudleigh, Lady Mary
Lady Mary Chudleigh Selected Bibliography by Margaret J. M. Ezell, Texas A & M University: Includes bibliographies, collected works, individual works, correspondence, selected teaching editions, biographies, and criticism.
Representative Poetry Online at the University of Toronto Library: E-text of Lady Mary Chudleigh's "To the Ladies".
Erasmus, Desiderius
Erasmus Text Project, University of the South: The purpose of this web site is to make available over the web various texts of Desiderius Erasmus. Texts are available in both HTML and RTF formats. The website includes Colloquia, Moriae Encomium, The Praise of Folly, and Three Prayers. Some of the texts include graphics.
Erasmus, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, supported by the U of Tennessee, Martin: Erasmus entry composed of brief sections on the life, writings, In Praise of Folly, Erasmus's attitude toward the reformation, and Doctrine of the Eucharist.
Grymeston, Elizabeth
Renaissance Motherhood by Erica M. Lell
More, Thomas
The St Thomas More Website: This is a very simple but worthwhile website. The site comprises links to other sites, covering news [T. More-related] items, biographies, More's Utopia [several online versions], other writings [online versions], photographs, places named after More, etc.
Topsell, Edward
Treasures of the Rare Book Library, University of Sydney, Australia: This page gives a small amount of information about The History of Four-Footed Beasts, but is mainly notable for an image of the frontispiece of the collection's copy of the book.
PURITAN "HELL-FIRE": WARNINGS AND WARMTH
Bunyan, John
John Bunyan Page
International John Bunyan Society
John Bunyan Online: This is an amazing site with extensive listing of everything you could ever want to know about John Bunyan. Links to texts and articles allow you to choose the format that best suits you-HTML, RTF, TEXT or PDF format
Bradstreet, Anne
Anne Bradstreet Website: This is an informative site with a lengthy bio and e-text versions of several poems. Warning: this is a commercial site that tries to sell books, etc.
Anne Bradstreet, American Literature on the Web: This site contains a brief introduction to the author followed by an extensive list of links, including e-text versions of some of her poetry.
LYRICAL INSTRUCTION: ISAAC WATTS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES
Isaac Watts by Victor Shepherd
CHAPBOOKS AND PENNY HISTORIES
Chapbooks: This site is one page on a larger site related to children's literature. This page gives a short explanation of what a chapbook is, followed by a good selection of images of chapbooks from the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries.
THOMAS BOREMAN AND JOHN NEWBERRY: "INSTRUCTION WITH DELIGHT"
Newbery, John
Newbery: This is a page on the larger site listed under chapbooks above. Again, nice graphics, but the site might not be permanent. There are a couple of sites that give brief bios, but nothing extensive.
RATIONAL MORALISTS
Edgeworth, Maria
Maria Edgeworth Biography: This is a full e-text version of Emily Lawless's 1905 biography of Edgeworth.
Maria Edgeworth Collection, Yale University Library: This site catalogues the contents of the Edgeworth archive at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale.
Maria Edgeworth, Princess Grace Irish Library, Monaco: This is a very extensive site (no graphics) that includes a brief bio, a bibliography of Edgeworth's work, criticism, commentary by contemporaries, and references for further reading.
Fielding, Sarah
Project Gutenberg: This site contains a Full text version of "The Governess", which can be downloaded in several formats.
Kilner, Dorothy
Project Gutenberg: This site contains a full text version of "Life and Perambulations of a Mouse", which can be downloaded in several formats.
Locke, John
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: This is a great page. It begins with a short bio that covers important moments in Locke's life. The page then moves on to a lengthy discussion of several of Locke's works, and also has links to other useful Locke sites on the web, including the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Locke, which is also a good source.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
Rousseau Association Site: This website out of Wabash College is a good introductory resource, primarily because from it you can link to all the other useful Rousseau sites on the web, including e-text versions of several of his works.
Catharine Parr Traill
Susanna Moodie & Catharine Parr Traill, National Library Archives: This is a great site with lots of graphics. Although it deals with both sisters, there is a great deal of info on Traill, including a small section on her writings for children.
Traill Main Page, Women Pioneers in Peterborough County Page: Another great site with plenty of graphics, this one offers a brief bio, historical info, a page detailing Traill's interests in botany, and a page with graphics of Traill's pressed grass scrapbook, as well as info on her poetry and prose.
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Memoirs of Mary Wollstonecraft: E-text version of Godwin's Memoirs of Mary Wollstonecraft.
Timeline: A Wollstonecraft timeline from Oregon State University.
SUNDAY SCHOOL MORALISTS
Barbauld, Anna Letitia
A Celebration of Women Writers: The University of Pennsylvania's digital library page on Barbauld includes a biography, e-text versions of several of her works (including Hymns in Prose for Children), and a bibliography of sources with links to web material where available.
Anna Letitia Barbauld Website, University of Saskatchewan: This site includes links to e-text versions of Barbauld's poetry and prose, links to online background and criticism, and information on other online and paper resources on Barbauld.
Barbauld Bibliography: This site is mostly a list of paper resources on Barbauld (but the bibliography appears to be quite complete); there are some links to other Internet resources.
More, Hannah
Encyclopedia of Informal Education: An extensive biography of More with particular emphasis on her work with children and development of Sunday schools.
Sherwood, Mary Martha
Literary Heritage Site, Sherwood Page: This site includes a "profile" of Sherwood and links to several e-text versions of her works.
HARBINGERS OF THE GOLDEN AGE
Blake, William
William Blake Archive: This hypermedia archive is sponsored by the Library of Congress and includes information about and works by Blake and his circle. There are e-text versions of several of Blake's works, including "Songs of Innocence and Experience".
Hemans, Felicia
A Celebration of Women Writers: The University of Pennsylvania's digital library page on Hemans includes a biography, e-text versions of several of her works, and a bibliography of sources with links to web material where available.
Lear, Edward
Edward Lear Home Page: This site includes info about Lear's life and travels, as well as pictures and bibliographies. There are links to essays on Lear, e-text versions of many of Lear's books, history of the limerick and examples of early nonsense books, and links to Lear resources on the web, including recent critical articles.
