Archives West Finding Aid

The Laura R. Merrill collection consists mainly of material about Newberry and Caldecott Book Award winners. The collection compiled by Logan Junior High School librarian, Laura Merrill, covers the period from 1922 through 1961. In addition to the Caldecott and Newberry Award files, the collection contains a small amount of incoming correspondence to Mrs. Merrill from authors and publishers.

Each year at the Logan Junior High School library Laura Merrill put together a book display. Part of this display was information about the Newberry and Caldecott winner for that year. From 1922 through 1943 and in 1954, 1957 and 1959 material appeared from Newberry Award winners. This material included a letter from the author, a bookcover from the book, and other material relevant to the book. This material has been filed under the authors name and the year of the award. The files are ordered by the year in which the award was won.

The Caldecott file is not nearly as extensive as the Newberry file. The collection has an annual file on the Caldecott winner between 1938-1943 and a file for 1950 and 1961. Within the Caldecott files are several original drawings given for the display. Again these files have been arranged by authors and year of the award. They are also ordered chronologically.

The remainder of the collection consists of miscellaneous correspondence covering the period from 1950 to 1956. The incoming letters are from various authors and publishers. These letters have been filed alphabetically.

Conservation measures taken were to place the material into acid free folders. Material that needs deacidification will be attended to.