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"Once
Upon a Time: The Grimms' Contribution to Literary History"
was the topic of our ninth Keats/de Grummond Collection
scholar. Dr. Donald Hettinga, professor of English at Calvin
College, described himself as "a kid in a candy store" as
he discovered the riches of the de Grummond Collection.
Every day he found more and more treasures. Hettinga is
writing a book-length critical study of Jacob and Wilhelm
Grimm's fairy tales. His research involves the review and
study of children's books to see how the fairy tales have
been retold by picture book authors and illustrators in
the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, the volume will
offer an autobiographical study of the brothers.
Hettinga prepared for his research visit by browsing the Collection
via the Internet. This allowed him to make the most of his
time during his weeklong visit to the University. The resources
that he utilized in the Collection have given him new ideas
and have helped to move his research in a new direction. He
is even planning future visits to research newly conceived
projects.
Hettinga is coauthor, with Gary D. Schmidt, of the Dictionary
of Literary Biography: British Children's Literature, 1914-1960
(Gale 1996) and Sitting at the Feet of the Past: The Retelling
of the North American Folktale (Greenwood 1992). He is
the author of Presenting Madeleine L'Engle (Twayne/Macmillan
1993) and numerous journal articles and essays.
This annual research fellowship program is funded by the Ezra
Jack Keats Foundation, and we thank them for their continued
support of our efforts to make the extensive holdings of the
de Grummond Collection accessible to a growing number of scholars
throughout the world.
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