McLoughlin Brothers: Nineteenth Century Entrepreneurs and Innovators of the American Picture Book

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Laura E. Wasowicz, photo courtesy of the author

TheMarjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts and Special Collections Center willcelebrate the opening of the exhibition Educate!Amuse! And In Colors! : Selections from the George M. Fox Collection of EarlyChildren's Books with the 16th Annual Holiday Lecture by Laura E. Wasowicz, Curator of Children'sLiterature from the American Antiquarian Society. The lecture will be held in the Koret Auditorium of the Main Library.
Theexhibition features over eighty examples of 19th century color printing, drawn fromthe file copies of the McLoughlin Brothers publishing firm of New York, and donatedto the library in 1978. These books are on view for the first time since 1986.
Wasowicz’stalk is entitled McLoughlin Brothers:Nineteenth-Century Entrepreneurs and Innovators of the American Picture Book. Shewill discuss the history of McLoughlin Brothers (active ca. 1858-1950), andtheir unique role in American publishing history as the premier 19^thcentury producer of color picture books. Through their adaptation of developingtechnologies and modern marketing techniques, they made possible the full-colorpicture books we know today.

Cinderella.New York: McLoughlin Bros., ca. 1882. PantomimeToy Book Series. Image courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society.

Wasowiczhas worked for twenty-five years at the American Antiquarian Society inWorcester, Massachusetts where she develops and manages their collection of 24,000children’s books issued between 1650 and 1899. She has written articles on various aspects of nineteenth-centuryAmerican children’s book publishing, picture book iconography, and children’sreading habits.  She is also the editorof the Nineteenth-Century American Children’s Book Trade Directory. She holds a master’s degree in LibraryScience from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in History fromClark University.