Research Resource at Central Michigan University, excerpt

Clarke Historical Library is home to $40 million children’s book collection

By Justin Hicks on March 22, 2012 in Featured, University

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Eugene Thwing's "The Man from Red-Keg" is one of the many antique children's books on display at Charles V. Park Library on CMU's campus. Thwing's book was published in 1905. (Zack Wittman/Staff Photographer)

Famous novelist C.S. Lewis once said: “I write for children because a children’s story is the best art form for saying what I have to say.”

Children’s literature is of extreme importance for students because it’s where reading and learning about culture begins, said Anne Alton, a Central Michigan University English language and literature professor with a graduate degree in children’s literature.

CMU is home to the Clarke Historical Library, which houses a collection of antique kids books worth an estimated $40 million. It increases in value by an estimated $1 to $1.5 million each year, said Frank Boles, director of the Clarke Historical Library.