LANDMARK BOOKS

      A while back the author Bill Bryson was asked a question, the answer to which provides me with an opportunity to discuss another Book Series. The question posed: “Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?”  

     Given that Mr. Bryson is so good at writing books one figures he will also be good at knowing which ones to read. Here is his answer: “I was completely devoted to an imprint called Landmark Books when I was growing up. I don’t know whether anyone remembers this series anymore, but they were nonfiction hardback books, on historical subjects, written for children or adapted from adult books. They made you feel that you were taking part in a grown-up activity but at a level that you could handle. A good deal of what I know about American history came from Landmark Books. I used to spend nearly all my pocket money on either Landmark Books or, if I was feeling rakish, Hardy Boys books. I am hugely indebted to both.”

     I did read some Hardy Boys books, but I was unaware of the Landmark ones and I know nothing about the current reading habits of children, assuming some still read. Still, given Bryson’s endorsement I thought it worth having a look at Landmark Books. (One has to remember, by the way, that he not only writes good books, he chooses good titles. A recent one, for example: The Road to Little Dribbling ( a path, by the way, down which a lot of gents my age seem to be heading)).

    Landmark Books were published in hardback by Random House during the 1950s and 1960s. They were works of non-fiction that were written for children by well-respected authors. Robert Penn Warren, for example, wrote one about the Alamo. I could go on and I was fully prepared to spend far too much time doing research about Landmark which would have resulted, at some far distant point in time, in a report that was far too long.

    It is the case, however, that one of the people who responded to Bryson’s answer is a professor of history at Furman University, who taught a course utilizing the Landmark Book series. He wrote an excellent account of Landmark which you can find here and which tells you all you need to know: See: “Generations Past: The Story of the Landmark Books,” David Spear, Perspectives on History, Oct. 17, 2016.

KIDDIE LIT

     Having been scooped by Professor Spear, I will turn our attention to ‘Kiddie Lit’, which is a slightly derisive term that was applied to those courses in a college curriculum which considered children’s literature. I recall that Western University has (or perhaps had) a solid collection of books related to children. They were, at one point, in the library of the Graduate School of Library Science, where it was realized that it would be a good thing for those aspiring to be librarians for children to know something about them. There is also a college of education which housed a good collection. As well, there is even material in the humanities library to support courses offered in the English Department. Now, much of this material is in a storage facility and clearly the collection(s) are strong. Among them, for example you will find these Landmark titles.
   

        A Baker’s Dozen of Landmark Books in the Western Libraries

 

Adams, Samuel Hopkins, General Brock and Niagara Falls. (1957)

Daugherty, James, The Landing of the Pilgrims. (1950)

Fehrenbach, T. R. The United Nations in War and Peace. (1968)
Hill, Ralph Nading, The Doctors Who Conquered Yellow Fever. (1957)
Holbrook, Stewart H., The Golden Age of Railroads.(1960)
Hume, Ruth Fox, Great Men of Medicine. (1961)
Kjelgaard, Jim, The Explorations of Père Marquette. (1951)
Lamb, Harold, Chief of the Cossacks. (1959)
Neuberger, Richard L., Royal Canadian Mounted Police.(1953)
Owen, Russell, The Conquest of the North and South Poles. (1952)
Reynolds, Quentin James, The F.B.I. (1954)
Walsh, Richard John, Adventures and Discoveries of Marco Polo. (1953)
White, Anne Terry. Prehistoric America (1951)

Sources:
Bryson's remarks are found in: "Bill Bryson: By the Book," New York Times, Jan. 14, 2016.  The letter from Professor Spear is found in the Jan. 29th issue.

Western does have sizeable collections of material relating to children. Apart from searching 'Childrens Literature' don't forget to look for the 'Ontario Textbook Collection". As well, see this specialized bibliography: An Evaluation and Comparison of the Children's Historical Collections at the London Public Library and in the Special Collections of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (UWO), Deanna C. Wolf.

It is not uncommon for institutions of higher learning to lower their focus to the little ones. See, e.g.
The Children's Literature Collection at the UBC.
The Margo Sandor Children's Literature Collection, U of T.
The Northeast Children's Literature at the Univ. of Connecticut.

The Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature at the University of Florida

(For the story of how it got there, see the chapter on "Obsessed Amateurs" in Nicholas A. Basbanes, A Gentle Madness...)

Post Script
Parental guidance is advised. If you are thinking of getting some of these books for your children you should be aware that some of those who were the biographical subjects in the Landmark series may have recently had their statues removed. You might also want to scrutinize these titles: