A WORLDRENOWNED REPOSITORY

On the second floor of McCain Library and Archives lies the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, a hidden gem on the USM Hattiesburg Campus.

Dr. Lena Y. de Grummond came to USM in the late 1960s to teach children’s literature. She recognized an opportunity for her students to examine original materials, so she began an extensive letter-writing campaign to children's authors and illustrators asking them to donate their materials. Penning an average of 100 letters per week, de Grummond's efforts became the foundation for what is now one of the nation’s largest collections of children's literature because they responded.

Established in 1966 by de Grummond, the Collection holds the original manuscripts and illustrations of more than 1,400 authors and illustrators and more than 200,000 published books dating from 1530 to the present. These prized materials include Aesop’s Fables, dated 1530; a board game from 1790; and more than 400 cataloged versions of the Cinderella story.

Researchers from different disciplines around the world visit the Collection to study its fables, fairy tales, folklore, alphabet books, nursery rhymes, textbooks, religious books, moral stories, fantasy, fiction, primers and children’s magazines.

“The influence of children’s literature cannot be denied. It is through reading quality books that children become lifelong learners. Once children connect to a book, their lives are enhanced," said Ellen Ruffin, associate professor and curator of the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection.

In 2022, three significant gifts made through the USM Foundation from longtime friends of de Grummond bolstered the magnificent Collection.

Dr. Eric Schonblom The Constance Savery Collection

Dr. Eric Schonblom is a retired engineer residing in Buckhorn, Ky. As a child, he enjoyed reading and recalls Emeralds for the King by Constance Savery as one of his favorites.

Since his retirement in 1997, he has read and collected each of Savery’s 50 books, as well as multiple short stories, poems and articles. There are two main characteristics Schonblom especially appreciates about her writing.

Savery wrote to educate and encourage. “She thought good and respectable people deserved more attention, so in her books, the good characters are described and drawn vividly, while the villainous often fade out of the storyline altogether,” Schonblom notes. “As an adult, I realized her writing is entirely free of bigotry or racial stereotyping, even in her early work in the 1930s and 1940s when antisemitism was so prevalent.”

In 2017, using source materials from Savery’s granddaughter, Schonblom wrote her biography, Another Lady: A Biography of Constance Savery

“As I was compiling my bibliography of Savery’s works, I scoured the Internet searching for her books and short stories, and in doing so, I discovered the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection,” he said.

“Constance Savery’s work diary mentions correspondence with Dr. de Grummond, who knew Savery was completing Emma, a two-chapter fragment left behind by the late Charlotte Brontë. The two women continued their correspondence until Dr. de Grummond’s death in 1987.”

While traveling for the holidays, Schonblom took a detour to Hattiesburg to see the Constance Savery Collection at Southern Miss. Pleased with his reception there, Schonblom began donating Savery items, including bound copies of her unpublished novels.

Over many years, Schonblom amassed an extensive library of Savery’s work. In April 2022, he donated the entirety of his collection, along with a $30,000 gift to bolster the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection Endowment for the purchase, maintenance and enhancement of the Collection and to support other library needs. So fortuitous was his timing, because in July 2022, heavy rainfall and the collapse of two upstream dams resulted in a flash flood that filled his home with 26 inches of muddy water, destroying many of his possessions.

“de Grummond would not be the world-renowned Collection it is without the time-intensive contributions of children’s literature superfans like the wonderful Eric Schonblom,” Ruffin said. “He not only added to de Grummond’s holdings through his donation of a staggering collection of Constance Savery books, but he also took the time to transcribe all of the original material he donated, too.”