Material was donated by Dorothy Joan Harris from 1977-1980.
Noncirculating; available for research.
The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above.
Dorothy Joan Harris was born on February 14, 1931 in Kobe, Japan. She graduated with honors from the University of Toronto in 1952 and went back to Japan to teach elementary school from 1954-1955. She went on to be an editor for Copp Clark Publishing Company from 1955-1960.
The idea for The House Mouse (1973) book originated from her two children. Her three year old son was fascinated by his older sister's dollhouse and the mouse came from Ms. Harris' imagination. The fears that Jonathan feels in The School Mouse are the same ones her children expressed when they started school.
Sources:
There are 18 watercolor illustrations for The House Mouse in the Barbara Cooney Papers (DG0221).
The collection contains typescripts, correspondence, and color proofs. The titles are arranged alphabetically. Within each title, the materials are arranged according to the probable order in which they were created. The correspondence was not separated by title as it was written to the de Grummond collection.
The House Mouse (1973), The School Mouse (1977), and The School Mouse and the Hamster (1979) are all picture books about Jonathan and his friend, a mouse. In the stories, Jonathan and the mouse have adventures. They are first introduced in The House Mouse, in which Jonathan finds the mouse living in his sister's dollhouse. In The School Mouse, Jonathan turns six and starts school. The mouse likes to ride in his toy Jeep, so Jonathan takes him to school to ride down the long hallways and live in the walls. There are typescripts for these two titles. The last story, The School Mouse and the Hamster takes place at school when the class gets a hamster. The mouse and hamster play outside the cage at night and get "goodies" from the lunchroom. There are typescripts, color proofs, and a proof of the dust jacket for this title.
Box/Folder
A. Correspondence
1/1 Correspondence with the de Grummond Collection, 1977-1980, n.d., 4 items.B. Books
The House Mouse by Dorothy Joan Harris, illustrated by Barbara Cooney (New York: F. Warne, 1973). 1/2 Typescript, edited, pp. 1-18. The School Mouse by Dorothy Joan Harris, pictures by Chris Conover (New York: F. Warne, 1977). 1/3 Typescript, pp. 1-17. The School Mouse and the Hamster by Dorothy Joan Harris, pictures by Judy Clifford (New York: F. Warne, 1979). 1/4 Typescript, "client's copy," photocopied and edited with typesetter's marks, pp. 1-15. 1/5 Proof of dust jacket, 1 item. 1/6 Color proofs, pp. 1-33, 4 items. (These items are oversized and housed in Map Case 2H/3).
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