De Grummond Children's Literature Collection

The de Grummond Children's literature Collection is one of North America’s leading research centers in the field of children’s literature. While the collection has many strengths, the main focus is on American and British children’s literature, historical as well as contemporary.

The collection holds original materials and published works in the McCain Library and Archives on the Hattiesburg campus of The University of Southern Mississippi.

The collection is named for Dr. Lena Y. de Grummond, who founded the collection in 1966. She assembled materials that were sent by contributors from around the world. More than 1,200 artists, illustrators, and collectors have generously donated books and original materials to the collection.

A major acquisition is that of the Ezra Jack Keats collection. The original artwork, typescripts, dummies, and preliminary sketches for 36 books by the Caldecott Award-winning author/illustrator complement the archives of his personal and professional papers already housed in the de Grummond Collection.