de Grummond Collection

Provenance

Donated by Rosekrans Hoffman.

Restrictions

Non-circulating; available for research.

Copyright

This 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.

Biographical Sketch

Ruth Olive Rosekrans was born January 7, 1926 in Denton, Nebraska to James and Pearl Hocking Rosekrans. Although she began drawing at the age of three or four, it was not until she contracted a devestating bone infection at the age of seven and was forced to stay in a full body cast for 18 months that she really began to develop her artistic talent. She eventually overcame her illness enough to attend school with her friends, but needed the assistance of a walking cane for the remainder of her life. Ruth graduated with a B.F.A. from the University of Nebraska in 1949, and then made her way to New York City. Her abstract impressionist paintings were shown at both the Whitney and Brooklyn Museums in New York. She married Bob Hoffmann in 1955, and using the name of Rosekrans Hoffman became a successful artist and writer of children's books beginning in the 1970s. The first book that she both authored and illustrated was called Anna Banana, which was published by Knopf in 1975, most of her work came from illustrating the books of other children's authors, including A. White's Walter in Love (Lothrop, 1971), Christine Tanz's An Egg is to Sit on (Lothrop, 1978), and Lee Bennett Hopkins' Go to Bed!: A Book of Poems (Knopf, 1979) among others.

(Ruth) Rosekrans Hoffman passed away in September of 2007.

Sources:

"A Book Artist's Vision: Rosekrans Hoffman--A New Display in the Heritage Room," http://nebraskawriters.blogspot.com/2010/08/book-artists-vision-rosekrans-hoffman.html [blog]

"Ruth Rosekrans Hoffman: A Renowned Lancaster County Artist." by Sue Williams in Tales & Trails, June 2001. [Accessed at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nedchs/tales-trails/Ruth.htm]

Scope and Content

The deGrummond Collection holds Rosekrans Hoffman's original illustrations (in pencil, ink, and watercolor) for My Mother Sends Her Wisdom (1979) and Jet Black Pickup Truck (1990). These illustrations include drafts and final color-prints ready for the publisher. The drawings also reveal a remarkable continuity in Hoffman's style and her somewhat idiosyncratic portrayal of animal life.

Hoffman's papers also include five letters between Hoffman and her publishers at William Morrow as she worked on My Mother Sends Her Wisdom and three postcards from Hoffman to the de Grummond Collection--two of which she illustrated.

Series and Subseries

A. Correspondence (1978-1981)

B. Books (1979, 1990)

• JET BLACK PICKUP TRUCK (1990),
• MY MOTHER SENDS HER WISDOM (1979).

    Box/Folder


A.  Correspondence (1978-1990)

     1/1       Letters from publishers at William Morrow to Hoffman, 5 items.

				Postcards written to the de Grummond Collection, 3 items.


B.  Books (1979, 1990)

     MY MOTHER SENDS HER WISDOM by Louise McClenathan, 
     illustrated by Rosekrans Hoffman (New York: William Morrow and Co., 1979).

     1/2-1/4    Original illustrations, pencil and watercolor, 26 items,

     1/2        Book jacket cover (pencil, color, and proof);
                end papers (pencil, color);
                title page (pencil); 

     1/3        p. 3 (pencil);
                p. 5 (pencil);
                p. 7 (pencil);
                pp. 8/9 (pencil);
                pp. 10/11 (pencil, watercolor); 
                p. 12 (pencil);
                pp. 14/15 (pencil, watercolor);
                p. 16 (pencil);

     1/4        pp. 18/19 (pencil, watercolor);
                p. 21 (pencil); 
                p. 21 (pencil);
                p. 23 (pencil);
                p. 24 (pencil);
                pp. 26/27 (pencil, watercolor);
                p. 28 (pencil);
                pp. 29/30 (pencil, watercolor);



     JET BLACK PICK UP TRUCK by Patricia Lakin, illustrated by 
     Rosekrans Hoffman (New York: Orchard Books, a division of Franklin 
     Watts, Inc., 1990).

     2/1        Line drawings, 2 items,

     2/2-2/3    Watercolor illustrations, 16 items,

     2/2             pp. 1, 2/3, 4/5, 6/7, 8/9, 10/11, 13, 14;

     2/3             pp. 16/17, 20/21, 23, 24/25, 26/27, 29, 30/31, 32.

Biographical Sketch | Scope & Content | Related Collections | Series & Subseries | Box Inventory
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Contact:
The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Drive, #5148
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
(601) 266-4349
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