Web site selected to Hall of Fame

July 17, 2008

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Collectors Weekly, a Web site for collectors and antique enthusiasts, recently selected the University of Florida’s Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature Web site,http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/baldwin/baldwin.html , for its Hall of Fame.

The Collectors Weekly highlights Web sites with deep reference content reflecting unique collections which demonstrate “a passion for collecting.” Baldwin Library is considered one of the “best on the web,” according to The Collectors Weekly.

The Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature contains more than 100,000 book volumes published in Great Britain and the U.S. beginning in the early 1700s. Its collection of more than 800 early-American imprints is the second, largest collection in the U.S.

The product of Ruth Baldwin’s 40-year collection offers a variety of literature printed primarily for children. The collection also puts forward an equally large amount of topics for researchers to explore — from education and upbringing to the arts of illustration and book design.

A great strength of the collection is the English and American editions of the same work. Other strengths of the collection include 300 editions of Robinson Crusoe, 100 editions of Pilgrim’s Progress, fables, and juvenile publications of the American Sunday School Union and other tract societies. Scholars, students and researchers at UF — and worldwide — continue to request works from this collection.

Funding for digitization of this collection was provided in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature is a contributor to the International Children’s Digital Library, and it is a founding partner of The Center for Children’s Literature and Culture at UF.