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Historical Children's Books at the Library of Congress: Selected Resources

This guide contains tips to help general researchers find historical children's materials and related information, including Library of Congress digital materials, external websites, and a print bibliography.

Introduction

This guide supplements the Library of Congress digital collection, Children's Book Selections, which presents highlights from the growing collection of historical children's materials available on the Library's website. It provides links to related resources at the Library and other institutions, and offers tips and strategies for exploring the Library's materials for young readers more broadly. 

A few things to keep in mind:

  • Your local public or school library is generally the best source of contemporary children's books for young readers (in both print and electronic formats).
  • Your local children's and school librarians have few peers when it comes to pairing the right book with the right child (we are happy to provide whatever help we can with this, but defer to the true experts!).

Engaged young readers grow into engaged researchers and citizens. We are delighted to support the work of parents, librarians and teachers in fostering our nation's young readers, and nurturing their love of reading, history, research, and libraries!