Materials received from Tana Hoban between 1982 and 1991.
Non-circulating; available for research.
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.
Tana Hoban, artist, photographer, film maker, and creator of more than two dozen innovative award-winning books for children, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of Russian immigrant parents. From an early age her father encouraged her to have her own career, and he enrolled her in art classes while she was still a little girl. Although she was the youngest student in her painting and life classes, teachers consistently singled out her work for special notice.
After graduating from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia in 1938, Hoban painted in Europe as a recipient of the John Frederick Lewis Fellowship. When she returned to Philadelphia, she worked as a free-lance advertising artist and magazine illustrator. In 1939, she married her first husband, Edward Gallob, a photographer. Not only did he give Ms. Hoban her first camera, but they opened their own studio together in 1946. Following the birth of their daughter, Meila, that same year, Hoban concentrated on a career as a professional photographer rather than as an artist. Her early training as a painter left an indelible imprint on her photography.
Hoban rapidly made her mark in the world of professional photography. By 1950 her work was included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and in 1953 she was the only woman mentioned in a Time magazine portfolio on "Half a Century of U.S. Photography." In 1959 she was named one of the Top Ten Women Photographers by the Professional Photographers of America. She worked as an instructor in photography at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania from 1966 to 1968. In 1967 she produced and filmed Catsup, an award-winning film which was shown at the Venice Film Festival.
Long interested in child development, Hoban frequently used children as subjects for her photographs. As early as 1955 she had written a book on photographing children, and in 1970 she combined her skills as a photographer with her interest in children to produce her first juvenile picture book, Shapes and Things. This book began Hoban's tradition of photographic picture books based on concepts: shapes, sizes, numbers, etc. Though some of her books are in black and white, the majority feature color photographs. All of the pictures reveal an artist's sensitivity in their composition and perspective. Frequently her books have no text at all, the photographer's skill rendering them unnecessary. Most of Hoban's books for children illustrate basic concepts, such as Push/Pull, Empty/Full (1972), Is It Larger? Is It Smaller? (1985), and Exactly the Opposite (1990). Other books, consisting of photographs of commonly encountered signs, seem intended to encourage children to read and conceptualize symbolic language. Hoban also creates board books for infants and toddlers, such as 1, 2, 3 (1985) and Panda, Panda (1986).
In 1973, Hoban served as project photographer for Beginning Concepts, a series of sound filmstrips produced by Scholastic Magazines, Inc. The purpose of these filmstrips was to teach children basic concepts, and so were similar in intent to Hoban's own books. From 1974 to 1976 she taught photography at New York University and began lecturing and giving workshops to school children, teachers and librarians across North America and in Europe. In 1983, Hoban married journalist John G. Morris and moved to Paris.
Hoban continued to produce children's books as well as make films. She won numerous gold medals and other awards for her photography and films, in addition to her many awards for the children's books she produced. As of 1990, five of her books had been listed as ALA Notables: Is It Red? Is It Yellow? Is It Blue? (1978), Take Another Look (1981), Round & Round & Round (1981), 1, 2, 3 (1985), and Shadows and Reflections (1990). On three separate occasions she received awards for her entire body of work, one of them from Drexel University. In 1991 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from her alma mater, Moore College of Art. Her works are included in the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, among other collections in both the United States and France. For a complete list of the books, awards, and exhibitions of Tana Hoban, researchers should consult the biographical and promotional material contained in this collection. Ms. Hoban passed away on January 27, 2006 at the age of 88.
This collection contains materials related to twenty-seven children's books by Tana Hoban published between 1972 and 1991. Also held in the collection are biographical materials, correspondence, promotional items for Hoban's books, and items related to a 1973 educational filmstrip series for which Hoban served on the creative development team. All materials are arranged in chronological order with the exception of book-related items, which are arranged alphabetically by book title and within each title according to the probable order in which they were created.
Biographical materials include a published autobiographical article written for the Something About the Author Autobiography Series, a short article on Hoban published in a magazine produced by the Moore College of Art; three biographical timelines of Hoban's life and career, which also contain bibliographies of her work and lists of her exhibitions and awards; and a photograph of Hoban. The correspondence consists of photocopies of selected letters between Hoban and the de Grummond Collection, documenting her association with the Collection as a contributor since 1982. Promotional materials consist of flyers relating to some of Hoban's books as well as a 1987 press release on Hoban by her publishing house, Greenwillow Books. There is also a collection of postcards printed by Greenwillow Press, one of which features a Hoban photograph. In relation to the Beginning Concepts filmstrip series for which Hoban served as project photographer, the collection contains a teacher's guide/activity book and three promotional leaflets.
The majority of Hoban's published works for children are represented in these holdings. A particular strong point of the collection are the many book dummies it contains. For many titles there are two or more dummies, and from these it is easy to trace Hoban's changing concepts of what the finished product would be. Most of these dummies contain original photographs, though some contain black and white or color photocopies. Frequently the dummies bear different titles from those of the published books. In addition to the numerous dummies, other book-related materials include dummy pages, paste-ups, proofs, filmed color separations, contact sheets, flats, typescripts, press sheets, dust jackets, and dozens of photographs and photocopies of photographs. Many of these photographs are alternates not selected for publication.
Also included in the collection are seven postcards, printed in France, which feature Hoban photographs. These photographs do not relate to any of her book titles, but rather represent Hoban's work as a professional photographer.
NONE
Box/Folder
A. Biographical Material
1/1 Autobiographical article, 1990, published in Something About the
Author Autobiography Series, vol. 12, pp. 157-175.
Moore College of Art Magazine, Fall 1986, including "Tana Hoban:
Photography as Art," p. 19.
Biographical timeline, ca. 1986, 2 pp.
Biographical timeline, ca. 1991, 4 pp.
Biographical timeline, [1992], 4 pp.
Photograph of Tana Hoban, undated.
B. Correspondence
1/2 To and from the de Grummond Collection, 1982-1992, undated, 20
items.
C. Promotional Items
1/3 Flyers, [1985?], 1987, 1991, 3 items.
Press release, ca. 1987, 2 pp.
Greenwillow Postcard Gallery, 1988.
D. Books
A, B, SEE! by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books, 1982).
1/4 Objects and photograms, 16 items.
1/5-1/6 Photograms,
1/5 "A," 11 items;
"B," 61 items;
"C," 31 items;
"D," 11 items;
"E," 14 items;
"F," 23 items;
"G," 9 items;
"H," 14 items;
"I," 5 items;
"J," 11 items;
"K," 14 items;
"L," 11 items;
1/6 "M," 30 items;
"N," 3 items;
"O," 5 items;
"P," 57 items;
"Q," 1 item;
"R," 25 items;
"S," 27 items;
"T," 6 items;
"U," 3 items;
"V," 12 items;
"W," 18 items;
"X," 4 items;
"Y," 13 items;
"Z," 7 items.
1/7 Dummy pages, pp. [5, 27].
Photographs of dummy pages, pp. [i, 5].
Photocopies of dummy pages, pp. [i, 4, 5, 7, 20], 6 items.
2/1-2/7 Paste-ups,
2/1 pp. [i-3];
2/2 pp. [4-8];
2/3 pp. [9-13];
2/4 pp. [14-18];
2/5 pp. [19-23];
2/6 pp. [24-28];
2/7 pp. [29, 30], dust jacket cover, dust jacket back.
2/8 Flats, pp. [7,8].
Proof, unbound, with dust jacket.
ALL ABOUT WHERE by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books,
1991).
3/1 Dummy with color photographs and holograph and typescript
text.
Photocopies of paste-ups of dust jacket, flaps, and front matter,
annotated, 4 items.
Proof, unbound, annotated, with dust jacket.
BIG ONES, LITLE ONES by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books, 1976).
3/2 Dummy with black and white photographs and holograph
lettering.
3/3 Photographs, pp. [4-31], dust jacket, 34 items.
Dust jacket.
A CHILDREN'S ZOO by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books,
1985).
3/4 Dummy with color photographs and transfer lettering.
COUNT AND SEE by Tana Hoban (New York: Macmillan, 1972).
3/5 Dust jacket.
DIG, DRILL, DUMP, FILL by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books, 1975).
3/6 Dummy with black and white photographs, unbound.
Dust jacket.
Promotional bookmark.
DOTS, SPOTS, SPECKLES, AND STRIPES by Tana Hoban (New York:
Greenwillow Books, 1987).
4/1 Sample photographs, mounted and annotated, 3 items.
Dummy with color photographs and holograph lettering.
Proof, dust jacket.
EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books, 1990).
4/2 Dummy with color photographs and holograph lettering,
unbound.
4/3 Proofs, photocopied, with annotations on adhesive notes, title
page, front flap, dust jacket cover, dust jacket back.
Color proofs, annotated.
4/4 Color proofs, with dust jacket.
I READ SIGNS by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books,
1983).
4/5 Dummy with color photocopies of photographs and holograph
lettering.
I READ SYMBOLS by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books,
1983).
4/6 Dummy with color photocopies of photographs and holograph
lettering.
I WALK AND READ by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books,
1984).
5/1 Dummy with color photocopies of photographs and holograph
lettering, unbound.
IS IT LARGER? IS IT SMALLER? by Tana Hoban (New York:
Greenwillow Books, 1985).
5/2 Dummy with color photographs and holograph lettering.
5/3 Dummy with color photographs and color photocopies of
photographs and transfer lettering.
Dummy with photocopies of photographs.
IS IT RED? IS IT YELLOW? IS IT BLUE? by Tana Hoban (New York:
Mulberry Books, 1978).
5/4 Rough dummy without photographs, holograph text.
Color photocopies of photographs, unpublished, 27 items.
5/5 Dummy with color photocopies of photographs, holograph and
photocopied print text, unbound.
6/1 Sample page with color photocopy, annotated, p. [4].
Dummy sheets, annotated, pp. [4/5, 6/7, 8/9, 10/11, 12/13].
Dummy sheets, annotated, with attached blueprints, pp. [14/15,
16/17, 18/19, 20/21, 22/23, 24/25, 26/27, 28/29, 30/31].
Layouts for dust jacket, annotated, 2 items.
6/2 Filmed color separations, pp. [6/7, 8/9, 20/21, 22/23, 26/27, 28/29],
dust jacket, 8 items.
6/3 Proofs.
6/4 Uncorrected proof, unbound, with dust jacket.
Dust jacket, 2 copies.
6/5 Proof, unbound.
Proof, unbound, with dust jacket.
IS IT ROUGH? IS IT SMOOTH? IS IT SHINY? by Tana Hoban (New
York: Greenwillow Books, 1984).
6/6 Dummy with color photographs and holograph lettering, with one
page of attached holographic notes.
7/1 Dummy with color photographs and color photocopies of
photographs.
Photocopies of photographs, pp. [3-32], 30 items.
LOOK! LOOK! LOOK! by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books,
1988).
7/2 Dummy with color photographs and photocopies of
photographs.
Dummy, dust jacket cover.
7/3 Proofs, with dust jacket.
MORE THAN ONE by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books,1981).
7/4 Dummy with black and white photographs and color photocopies of
photographs and holograph text.
Dummy with black and white photographs and holograph and
printed text.
7/5 Designer's notes, holograph, 1 p.
Contact sheets, 13 items.
8/1 Photographs, pp. [4-9, 11-13, 15-16, 18, 20-22], endpapers, dust
jacket back, 23 items.
8/2 Photographs for poster, cropped and marked for reduction,
annotated, 5 items.
OF COLORS AND THINGS by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books, 1989).
8/3 Proof, unbound, with dust jacket.
ONE LITTLE KITTEN by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books,
1979).
8/4 Contact sheets, annotated, 6 items.
Typescript photocopy, 1 p.
Typescript photocopy, annotated, 1 p.
8/5 Photographs, pp. [4-24], dust jacket front, dust jacket back,
unpublished, 17 items.
8/6 Dummy with black and white photographs, typescript text.
8/7 Dummy, dust jacket.
Partial dummy with black and white photographs.
Press sheets, 2 items. (Stored separately).
Proof, unbound, with dust jacket.
Dust jacket.
1, 2, 3 by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books, 1985).
8/8 Rough dummy with graphite illustrations and 5 color
photographs.
Dummy with color photographs and transfer lettering and
holograph text.
PANDA, PANDA by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books,
1986).
8/9 Dummy with color photographs and transfer lettering.
Photocopies of dummy pages, annotated.
RED, BLUE, YELLOW SHOE by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books, 1986).
8/10 Dummy with color photographs and transfer and holograph
lettering.
Photocopies of dummy pages, annotated.
ROUND & ROUND & ROUND by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books, 1983).
8/11 Dummy with color photocopies.
SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS by Tana Hoban (New York:
Greenwillow Books, 1990).
9/1 Dummy with color photographs and holograph lettering.
Proofs with dust jacket.
SHAPES, SHAPES, SHAPES by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books, 1986).
9/2 Dummy with color photographs and transfer lettering.
Mask for interior photographs.
Proofs, pp. [14, 15, 20, 21, 24, 25], 5 items.
TAKE ANOTHER LOOK by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books, 1981).
9/3 Dummy with black and white photographs and photocopies of
photographs, annotated, and 2 holograph notes.
Layout for die-cut page.
Negative for die-cut page.
Paste-ups, pp. [7-40], dust jacket, 18 items.
Cover.
26 LETTERS AND 99 CENTS by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow
Books, 1987).
10/1 Rough dummy with graphite illustrations and holograph text.
Dummy, intermediate stage, annotated, with color photographs,
graphite illustrations, and transfer lettering. Enclosure: Note from
Tana Hoban to Susan [Hirschman], Editor-in-Chief of Greenwillow
Books.
10/2 Photocopies of intermediate stage dummy, annotated.
10/3 Dummy, revised intermediate stage with photocopies of
photographs, annotated.
Sample sheet with photographs of letter "C" and glove.
10/4 Sketch of various objects, graphite and crayon.
Photocopies of late production stage dummy pages, annotated.
Proof, unbound, with dust jacket.
Promotional postcard.
WHAT IS IT? by Tana Hoban (New York: Greenwillow Books,
1985).
10/5 Dummy with color photographs and transfer lettering.
E. Filmstrip Materials
10/6 Beginning Concepts Teacher's Guide/Activity Book, 1973, 63
pp.
Promotional leaflets for Beginning Concepts, 3 items.
F. Postcards
10/7 Featuring Hoban photographs, printed in France, 1969, 1970,
undated, 7 items.
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