From the summer 2008 issue of UConn Momentum
An English teacher with a special interest in the fantasy genre of children’s literature has made an in-kind donation of nearly 1,000 books to the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection (NCLC) at the Thomas J. Dodd Center Library.
The collection, which is valued at just under $73,000, was donated by Patricia Lothrop, who teaches high school in Rhode Island. The books include some early classics as well as a number of first-edition titles from the 1960s and later, from authors and illustrators such as Dr. Seuss, Chris van Allsburg, William Steig, Maurice Sendak, Beatrix Potter, Madeleine L’Engle and many others. Most of the books are in pristine condition. The collection also includes some professional journals and secondary research materials relating to children’s literature.
Terri Goldich, curator of the NCLC, was very pleased to have Lothrop’s books added to the library’s holdings.
“You can tell that these books have not been through a lot of children’s hands,” says Goldich. “Often, when children’s books are donated here, the covers are worn and you will find scribbling on the inside, but not in this case.”
Lothrop says she developed an interest in children’s literature while working on her Ph.D. at Yale in the 1970s.
“I didn’t really set out to become a collector,” says Lothrop. However, when offered the chance to teach a course in children’s literature, she began buying copies of the books that she planned to use in her class. Over the years, the collection grew larger and larger.
Relocation from Seattle to Rhode Island eventually led Lothrop to donate the books to UConn.
“When I moved back East, I had this huge accumulation. I felt so bad for these books, just sitting in boxes in the basement,” says Lothrop. UConn, with its well-known collection of children’s literature, was the obvious choice. Lothrop admits that she was “flabbergasted” by the $72,891 appraisal. “I was stunned. I never thought of the books in terms of their monetary value.”
Unlike visitors to the children’s section of a community public library, most clients at the NCLC are adults, such as researchers or students interested in particular genres. Often people considering a career in children’s literature use the holdings at NCLC to study the techniques of successful writers.
Does Lothrop miss her books? While she says that she was as “hard-hearted” as she could be about selecting books to give away, she did set aside a few favorites to keep. Those few favorites still total about 1,000 books.
