Donated by Esphyr Slobodkina between 1968 and 1984.
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.
Esphyr Slobodkina was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia on September 22, 1908 to Solomon A. and Itta (Agranovich) Slobodkina. A small town at the foot of the Ural Mountains in Siberia, Chelyabinsk serviced the Trans-Siberian railway. The town boasted of a population between thirty and thirty-five thousand people before the Russian Revolution of 1917; under Stalin's first Five-Year Plan, Chelyabinsk became a large metallurgical center dedicated to industrial production. In the years prior to the Revolution, Slobodkina's father served as the oil yard manager for the railway and afforded his family a leisurely existence. Although her family lived rather well, living in Asiatic Russia exposed Slobodkina to some of Russia's disparate classes and ethnic groups: common muzhiks, Chinese peddlars, Jews, Kirghiz nomads on camels, and Russified Tartars.
In 1917, civil war erupted across Russia. Bolsheviki battled Menshiviki for loyalties of the Russian proletariat; Whites (monarchists) fought Reds; a legion of Czechoslovakian soldiers isolated in Siberia clawed their way towards the Eastern front to rejoin their comrades in the ongoing world war; a renegade Cossack contingent attempted to create its own government in the provinces; the Allies of World War One jousted with Japan over intervention in Siberia and whether or not to prop up the ragged monarchist elements holding on there. Confusion and violence convulsed the nation. Refugees fled into Siberia and toward Russia's Maritime Province in the east. Nevertheless, this terrible storm of revolution brought more variety to the Slobodkina household: intellectuals, political dissidents, White-officers, and Jewish radicals.
For a time, Slobodkina's homelife was remarkably busy. Fifteen or twenty guests at the dinner table each evening surprised no one, and the family's appreciate for Art often turned the evenings into improvised concerts, poetry recitals, and dramatic performances by the children.
Too soon, the conflict spread eastward into the provinces. The railways fell to Whites, then Reds, to Whites again, and finally back to the Reds. The Slobodkinas fled to Vladivostok and then to Manchuria where Solomon Slobodkina's daughters attended the Russian high school in Harbin. Finally, as all of Russia fell to the Bolsheviks, the family shipped out to America.
During the Depression, Slobodkina earned extra money by painting trays and wastepaper baskets, as an assistant dress designer for "some $7.95 outfit" along 7th Avenue in New York City, and later as a designer and foreman in an experimental printing textile shop in New Jersey. In the late 1930s Slobodkina's lover, a young man named Johnny, introduced her to rising children's author, Margaret Wise Brown. Out of this introduction came Slobodkina's illustrations for The Little Fireman (1938) plus a friendship and working relationship that lasted until Brown's sudden death in 1952.
Brown must be credited with starting Slobodkina on her own career as a children's author and illustrator; she encouraged Slobodkina to begin writing for children, insisting that artists used more direct imagery and avoided getting entangled by words. Slobodkina's first story was The Wonderful Feast (1955, 1967), which took fifteen years to bring to print; later came Caps for Sale (1940), her first well-received children's book and a classic of children's literature.
A sampling of her letters reveals Slobodkina as a woman driven by a highly-refined sense of artistic style. She demanded a great deal from herself and from those with whom she worked. Believing that her experiences should be recorded, Slobodkina undertook writing a two-volume published manuscript entitled Notes for a Biographer which serves as a valuable source for those who wish to know about her family's contacts with Russian refugees in Vladivostok and Manchuria or life in New York City among the "Young Radical" set during the 1920s and 1930s, among other things.
Influenced by abstractionist principles popular after the close of the World War, Slobodkina became a charter member of the American Abstract Artists and the Federation of Modern Artists and Sculptors. For the AAA she served as secretary from 1945 to 1946 and again from 1949 to 1953, as vice-president and treasurer from 1960 to 1962, and finally as president from 1963 to 1965. As a sculpter and painter she had several one-man shows which showcased her considerable talent. Slobodkina used this same style in her children's illustrations and centered her work around the premise that "color creates mood."
Consequently, most of her works rely on cut-out shapes often in solid colors. Sleepy ABC (1953) and The Little Fireman (1938) best illustrate this style. Oddly, many of her human characters lack faces; Slobodkina reasoned that blank faces allowed her readers to use their imaginations more. Not uncommonly, she had to reply to young correspondents and their parents regarding this unique application of artistic license.
Slobodkina was quite prolific, collaborating on a series of books with Margaret Wise Brown: The Little Fireman (1938), The Little Farmer (1948), The Little Cowboy (1948), and Sleepy ABC (1953). On her own she also did quite well, numbering among her more well-known books Boris and his Balaika (1964), Caps for Sale (1940), The Flame, the Breeze, and the Shadow (1969), and The Wonderful Feast (1955).
Slobodkina also completed a mural for the University of Southern Mississippi on a wall in the former location of the de Grummond Collection (second floor of Cook Library, in the current microfilm area).
Esphyr Slobodkina passed away in July of 2002, at the age of 93. Her work lives on through the efforts of her non-profit organization, The Slobodkina Foundation.
Sources:
This collection contains both autobiographical material and material related to twenty-one published books written or illustrated by Slobodkina, two unpublished books, and material she used while completing the mural for the University of Southern Mississippi's de Grummond Collection. The autobiographical material includes several long letters to fans which detail Slobodkina's rather amazing personal history. A copy of her autobiographical sketch for the Something About the Author Autobiography Series can be found in deGrummond's vertical file, and her autobiography resides in de Grummond's closed stacks. There is also some general correspondence between Slobodkina and fans as well as with noted children's author, Margaret Wise Brown.
The twenty-one titles included in this collection cover a forty-two year span, from 1938 to 1980. For each title, the collection contains a generous number of letters between Slobodkina, her editors, and publishers. Each title also holds contracts, typescripts, and illustrations as well as dummies, promotional material, reviews, and the occasional royalty statement.
Of Slobodkina's work, those on which she collaborated with Margaret Wise Brown doubtlessly hold great interest for the researcher. These titles include The Little Fireman (1938), The Little Cowboy (1948), The Little Farmer (1948), and Sleepy ABC (1953). In Brown's "Little" books, two characters are juxtaposed against one another, one big and the other small. In The Little Fireman and The Little Farmer the characters face problems bigger than themselves and overcome those problems, despite their size. Each of the titles includes detailed correspondence between Slobodkina, her publishers and Brown; contracts made between Slobodkina and the publishers; and typescripts. These also include dummies in which Slobodkina sketched illustrations. The Little Cowboy has with it some miscellaneous drawings, and The Little Fireman includes matted illustrations. More detailed original illustrations are missing from this series of books. Even so, the correspondence pertaining to these titles is valuable for insight into the evolving relationship between Slobodkina and Brown as well as how a story progresses from typescript to illustrated children's book. Moreover, in these books Slobodkina's unique style emerges at its most distinctive. Quite often, she used cut-out figures for illustration and rarely gave faces to her human characters. She reasoned that in doing so, she allowed her readers to retain imaginative control over the story. In contrast, her animals usually had faces, because she insisted that animals had more generic features.
While her books with Brown were no doubt important to Slobodkina's career, she won success and acclaim in her own right as well. Slobodkina's trilogy of books about Pezzo the Peddlar enjoyed commercial success, although the first, Caps for Sale (1940), brought her critical acceptance as well. For each of these titles [Caps for Sale, Pezzo the Peddlar, and the Circus Elephant (1967), and Pezzo the Peddlar and the Thirteen Silly Thieves (1970)], the collection has a great deal of correspondence which addresses specific steps in the editing process. Also, several typescripts accompany each title, documenting how she planned for certain illustrations to match certain texts. The illustrations which belong with these titles can be found in the dummies Slobodkina composed, in a few rough sketches for Pezzo...and the Circus Elephant, dust jackets, and as ink illustrations for Caps for Sale. The researcher will also want to take note of the legal suit Slobodkina filed against Wonder Books in 1950 for the plagarism of Caps for Sale.
Although the books about Pezzo treated a similar theme throughout, Slobodkina also wrote stories that had themes and characters more from her own background. While the story could have taken place anywhere, Slobodkina insisted that The Wonderful Feast (1955, 1967) told a familiar Russian folktale; this story she originally entitled "To Each According to his Need." This was Slobodkina's first story, yet it took fifteen years to publish. The correspondence and typescripts associated with this title illustrate the role editors play in refining and shaping children's stories.
Slobodkina's other two folktales emerged from her childhood memories of Russia and Manchuria. While The Wonderful Feast's distinctive Russian element involves its moral, Boris and his Balalaika (1964) and The Flame, the Breeze, and the Shadow (1969) deal with more easily recognizable Russian and Chinese settings. For Boris and his Balalaika, the story of a Russian peasant boy elevated to a station in the army because of his unique skill, the collection has twenty-nine items of correspondence between Slobodkina and her editors at Abelard-Schuman. Also associated with this title are typescripts, a contract, and book reviews. The Flame, the Breeze, and the Shadow includes the same types of sources plus galley fragments, miscellaneous copies of Slobodkina's research notes for this Chinese story, as well as a printer's proof and a dust jacket. The correspondence and typescripts especially demonstrate the editor's hand in shaping the manuscripts while showing Slobodkina's determination to maintain the integrity of the stories' distinctive Russian and Chinese flavor.
In addition to these titles, the collection holds correspondence and manuscripts, contracts, sketches and dummies as well as reviews and promotional material for Behind the Dark Window Shade (1958), Billie (1959), Billy the Condominium Cat (1980), The Clock (1956), Hiding Places (1948), Jack and Jim (1961), The Little Dinghy (1958), Little Dog Lost, Little Dog Found (1956), The Long Island Ducklings (1961), Moving Day for the Middlemans (1960), and Pinky and the Petunias (1965).
The Slobodkina collection also holds the dummies and correspondence for two unpublished books. The first, "Little Gregory" was co-authored by Margaret Wise Brown and Rockbridge Campbell; Slobodkina was scheduled to illustrate "Little Gregory." Also contained in the collection is the "Slobodkina Cookbook."
Finally, this collection contains materials associated with the mural Slobodkina crafted for the de Grummond Collection. Included among these items are Slobodkina's notes about the mural's dimensions and art materials she needed, rough sketches, beautifully rendered panels that correspond to the larger mural, newsclippings, and miscellaneous tracings that Slobodkina used as she painted the mural itself. The mural is unique---another of Slobodkina's distinctive accomplishments.
Key to Slobodkina Correspondence:
[Note: This key only includes frequent correspondents]
Louise Banino (Random House)
Marcella Berger (assistant manager, subsidiary rights, IntextPress)
Margaret Wise Brown (children's author)
Jean Cappel (assistant, Bertha Klausner)
Barbara P. Cisin (ed., children's books, Abelard-Schuman)
Beatrice Creighton (ed., Lothrop, Lee and Shepard)
Elizabeth M. Graves (ed., Abelard-Schuman)
Anna Ketain (ed., Rights and Permissions, Young Scott Books)
Bertha Klausner (Bertha Klausner International Literary Agency)
Lillian Lustig McClintock (ed., Abelard-Schuman, Ltd., Rand McNally): McClintock married during her assocation with Slobodkina; her maiden name appears on a great deal of the correspondence.
John G. McCullough (ed., William R. Scott, Inc.)
Frances Schwartz (ed., Abelard-Schuman)
Murray Schwartz (graphics, Abelard-Schuman)
William R. Scott (pres., Young Scott Books/William R. Scott, Inc.)
Adrian Shapiro (ed., Lothrop, Lee and Shepard)
The deGrummond Collection holds several letters from Margaret Wise Brown to Slobodkina concerning one of the many books they collaborated on. See the Margaret Wise Brown Papers (DG1129).
Box/Folder
A. Autobiographical material
1/1 Correspondence between Slobodkina, various readers, Gale Research
Company, 1954-1969, 5 items,
19 April 1954, Slobodkina to "Mary," 3 pp.;
Fall 1962, short autobiographical sketch plus two photos, 1 page;
5 May 1969, Slobodkina to Bernard Lonsdale, 6 pp.;
14 July 1969, Slobodkina to Anne Commire, Gale
Research Company, 2 pp.;
Undated miscellaneous autobiographical information plus promotional
material;
Biographical folder for Bertha Klausner International Literary Agency,
8 pp.;
Photocopied pictures of Slobodkina, 2 items;
Article by Slobodkina, 2 pp.;
Book lists, 4 items;
Interview with Slobodkina and former USM faculty member Dr. Jeannine Laughlin-Porter,
March 22, 1984 [VHS].
B. General Correspondence
1/2 Correspondence between Slobodkina and J.B. Schorr, Margaret Wise
Brown, Jessica Olefson, 1945-1955, 16 items.
C. Books
BEHIND THE DARK WINDOW SHADE written and illustrated by Esphyr
Slobodkina (New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1958).
1/3 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Beatrice Creighton, Adrian
Shapiro, Evelyn M. Nielsen, 1956-1961, 13 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1956, 1 item;
Copyright claims, United States and Canada, 9 May 1958, 2 items;
Typescript, edited first draft, 2 copies;
Typescript, edited first draft,
Various sketches, 4 items;
Color swatches;
Printers' galley, author's copy;
Proof with dust jacket, 17 pp.;
Biographical forms, 3 pp.;
Promotional material, 1 item.
BILLIE by Esphyr Slobodkina, illustrated by Meg Wohlberg (New York:
Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1959).
1/4 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Beatrice Creighton, Bertha
Klausner, Lillian Lustig McClintock, 1956-1966, 12 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 26 February
1958;
Copyright claims, United States and Canada, 24 September 1959, 2 items;
Notes on Billie, 3 pp.;
Typescript, draft, short version, November 1956, 4 pp.;
Typescript, draft, long version, November 1956, 6 pp., plus 1 copy;
Galley proof, edited author's copy, 3 pp.;
Miscellaneous newspaper clippings, 5 items.
BILLY, THE CONDOMINIUM CAT written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina
(Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1980).
1/5 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Adison-Wesley Publishing Co.,
Mary K. Harmon, and Will Winslow, 1978-1979, 22 items;
Contract between Adison-Wesley and Urquhart-Slobodkina, 7 February
1979, 8 pp.;
Dummy, 7 June 1978, 48 pp;
Dummy, 48 pp.;
Typescript, edited, 7 June 1978, 3 pp.;
Sketches, 17 items;
Contact sheet, master sheet and layout sheets, 6 pp.;
Title page dummy, 1 page;
Miscellaneous Xerox copy, 19 pp;
News clippings, 37 items;
Postcards, 2 items;
Dedication page and proof, plus text for front and back flap of dust jacket,
4 items;
Review, 1 item.
BORIS AND HIS BALALAIKA by Esphyr Slobodkina, illustrated by [Vladimir]
Bobri (London: Abelard-Schuman, 1964).
1/6 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Bertha Klausner, Frances
Schwartz, Eva W. Sussman (director, Beth Ha Gan School of Temple
Israel of Great Neck, New York), 1962-1974, 29 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Abelard-Schuman, 9 July 1963, 6 pp.;
Typescript, first draft, 6 pp.;
Typescript, second draft, edited, 7 pp., plus 2 copies;
Typescript, final draft with typesetter's marks, 7 pp.;
Title page, copyright page, and dedication page;
Reviews, 4 items.
CAPS FOR SALE: A TALE OF A PEDDLAR, SOME MONKEYS AND THEIR
MONKEY BUSINESS written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina (New York:
Young Scott Books, 1940).
1/7 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Gertrude Musa, William R.
Scott, John G. McCullough, Lillian Lustig McClintock, Anna Ketain,
1940-1971, 21 items;
Complaint filed against Grosset and Dunlop, Inc., Wonder Books, Inc.,
and Ruth Tooze, [2 March 1950?];
Playscript, 4 pp.;
Miscellaneous page of typescript;
Promotional material, 1 item.
1/8 Illustrations, 24 items;
Ink tracings, 22 pp.;
Color illustration, title page;
Mock-up with thumbnail illustrations (reproductions).
THE CLOCK written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina (New York:
Abelard-Schuman, 1956).
2/1 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Lillian Lustig McClintock, Jean
Cappel, Slobodkina and Murrey Schwartz, 1956, 14 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Abelard-Schuman, 10 February 1956;
Typescript, 1 page (front and back);
Typescript, 3 pp.;
Typescript, edited with author's notes, 2 pp.;
Typescript with indications concerning placement of illustrations and text,
3 pp.;
Typescript with indications concerning placement of illustrations and text,
4 pp.;
Typescript, markings indicate corresponding page numbers in published
book, 3 pp.;
Typescript, edited by typesetter, 8 pp.;
Unidentified page of manuscript;
Christmas card;
Review,
Atlantic Monthly (December 1956).
THE FLAME, THE BREEZE, AND THE SHADOW written and illustrated by
Esphyr Slobodkina (Chicago: Rand Mcnally, 1969).
2/2 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Bertha Klausner, Lothrop,
Lee and Shepard, Co., Lillian McClintock, Margaret Stephens (assoc.
ed., Rand McNally), Jane Zirkel (editorial assistant, Rand McNally),
Don H. Eldredge (vice-president, Trade Division, Rand McNally),
Dorothea Scott, 1967-1974, 59 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Rand McNally, 15 December 1967;
Dummy with text, no illustrations, 23 pp.;
Dummy with text and rough sketches, 32 pp.;
Unidentified manuscript fragments, 2 items.
2/3 Manuscript, 9 pp.;
Typescript, 12 pp.;
Typescript, edited, 11 pp.;
Typescript, edited, 20 pp.;
Typescript, 11 January 1967, 12 pp.;
Galley fragment, author's version, 1 copy;
Miscellaneous copy of Chinese (Manchu) headress;
Dust Jacket.
HIDING PLACES by Louise P. Woodcock, illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina
(New York: Young Scott Books, 1948).
2/4 Proof with dust jacket, 10 pp.
JACK AND JIM written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina (London:
Abelard-Schuman, 1961).
2/5 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Irene S. Alleman (Simon and
Schuster, Inc.), William Scott, Beatrice Creighton, Lillian Lustig McClintock,
Frances Schwartz, Elizabeth M. Graves, Marcella Berger, 1952-1974, 27
items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Abelard-Schuman, 27 September 1967,
6 pp.;
Typescript, first draft, 1 August 1952, 6 pp., 2 copies;
Typescript, 6 October 1952, 3 pp.;
Typescript, 17 April 1960, 5 pp.;
Typescript, edited, 23 September 1960, 6 pp., 1 copy;
Typescript, edited copy, 6 pp.;
Unidentified sketch, 1 item;
Dust jacket;
Reviews, 4 items.
THE LITTLE COWBOY by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Esphyr
Slobodkina (New York: William R. Scott, 1948).
2/6 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Lillian Lustig McClintock,
William R. Scott, Margaret Wise Brown, 1948-1974, 30 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and William R. Scott, Inc., 10 August 1948,
3 pp.;
Dummy without text or illustrations, authors' notes on pp. 23-24, 11 pp.;
Dummy with text, illustrated, 20 pp.;
Typescript, edited, November 1948, 4 pp., 1 copy;
Miscellaneous drawing.
THE LITTLE DINGHY written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina (London:
Abelard-Schuman, 1958).
3/1 Correspondence between Esphyr Slobodkina and Lillian Lustig McClintock,
Bertha Klausner, Mrs. F. W. Jacob (Maine State Library), 1957-1960),
19 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Abelard-Schuman, 6 August 1957, 4 pp.;
Dummies, 2 items;
Typescript, edited, 30 June 1957, 4 pp.;
Typescript, 9 January 1958, 2 pp.;
Typescript, 5 pp.;
Typescript, copy, edited by typesetter, 10 pp.;
Sketches, 3 items;
Royalty statement, 2 pp..
LITTLE DOG LOST, LITTLE DOG FOUND written and illustrated by Esphyr
Slobodkina (New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1956).
3/2 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Louise Banino, Beatrice
Creighton, Lillian Lustig McClintock, Bertha Klausner, Marcella Berger,
1954-1974, 15 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Abelard-Schuman, 23 June 1955;
Abelard Press author's biographical sheet, 1 page;
Dummy, written on business cards, 8 cards;
Dummy, with sketches, 42 pp.;
Typescript, 21 October 1954, 3 pp.;
Typescript, 3 pp., 1 copy;
Typescript, author's notations for illustrations,
3 pp., 1 copy;
Typescript, 2 pp.;
Typescript, edited for page numbers and layout, 2 pp.;
Typescript with instructions for placement of illustrations, 3 pp.;
Review, 1 item;
Dust jacket, Tiger Tizzy by Joseph Longstreth, 1 item.
THE LITTLE FARMER by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated Esphyr Slobodkina
(New York: William R. Scott, 1948).
3/3 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Lillian Lustig McClintock,
William R. Scott, Margaret Wise Brown, 1947-1954, 7 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and William R. Scott, Inc., 3 July 1947, 3 pp.;
Dummy, 14 pp.;
Dummy with text and notes of Slobodkina, no illustrations, 36 pp.;
Typescript, text with notes for placement of illustrations,
1 page;
Promotional material.
THE LITTLE FIREMAN by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrations by Esphyr
Slobodkina (New York: William R. Scott, 1938).
3/4 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Lillian Lustig
McClintock, William R. Scott, 1944-1967, 31 items;
Illustration (ink);
Postcards, illustrated reproductions, 2 items;
Miscellaneous page of Slobodkina's notes;
Promotional material,
book catalogs for Young Scott Books, 1947-1950,
5 items.
THE LONG ISLAND DUCKLINGS written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina
(New York: Lantern Press, 1961).
3/5 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Jean Cappel, Evelyn Shrifte
(Vanguard Press), A. L. Furman (Lantern Press), 1960-1974, 19 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Lantern Press, 23
January 1961, 5 pp.;
Typescript, original draft, edited, 7 pp.;
Typescript, edited draft, with Slobodkina objections to
editor's changes, 6 pp.;
Typescript, 16 January 1961, copy of original, 7 pp.;
Typescript, corrected draft, copy of original, 6 pp.;
Typescript, 6 pp.;
Sketches and cut-out figures;
Sketch of dust jacket;
Miscellaneous proofs of title page, copyright page, 6 items.
MOVING DAY FOR THE MIDDLEMANS written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina
(New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1960).
3/6 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Murray Schwartz,
Elizabeth M. Graves, Jean Cappel, Harold Cantor (editor,
Abelard-Schuman), Barbara P. Cisin, 1959-1960, 14 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Abelard-Schuman, 5 October 1959,
3 pp.;
Typescript, edited draft, 7 pp.;
Typescript, edited draft, 6 pp.;
Typescript, 14 January 1960, 8 pp.;
Typescript, edited for typesetter, 5 pp..
PEZZO THE PEDDLAR AND THE CIRCUS ELEPHANT written and illustrated by
Esphyr Slobodkina (London: Abelard-Schuman, 1967).
3/7 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Frances Schwartz,
Bertha Klausner, Victoria Zayat (associate editor, Abelard-Schuman),
Georgia Palade (director for Publicity and Library promotion,
Abelard-Schuman), Barbara Wilson (publisher, Representative-Books,
Xerox), 1967-1973, 17 items;
Contract and payment stub, 7 February 1967;
Manuscript on 5x8" cards, 18 cards;
Typescript, original draft, 8 December 1966, 9 pp.;
Typescript, copy of original, 9 pp.;
Typescript, copy of original, edited for author's approval,
30 January 1967, 9 pp.;
Typescript, edited for typesetter, 12 pp.;
Typescript, text with indications for placement of
illustrations, 9 pp.;
Typescript, copy, 7 pp;
Typescript, text with indications for placement of illustrations,
typesetter's marks, 11 pp.;
Sketches, 3 items;
Proof of front and back flap of dust jacket, 2 pp.;
Dust jacket;
Reviews, 3 items;
Royalty statement, period ending 31 December 1966, 7 pp.
PEZZO THE PEDDLAR AND THE THIRTEEN SILLY THIEVES written and illustrated
by Esphyr Slobodkina (London: Abelard-Schuman, 1970).
4/1 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Bertha Klausner,
Frances Schwartz, Carol Drexler (editor), Marcella Berger,
1969-1974, 22 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Abelard-Schuman, 18
September 1969, 2 pp.;
Dummy with text and drafts of illustrations, 46 pp.;
Typescript, 8 January 1969, 8 pp., 1 copy;
Typescript, edited for typesetter, 11 pp.;
Typescript, edited for typesetter, 8 pp.;
Typescript, editor's remarks, 2 pp.;
Typescript, author's response to editor, 10 pp.;
Typescript, author's response to editor, 8 pp.;
Proofs, dedication page, title page;
Dust Jacket and proof (24 pp.);
Review, 1 item.
PINKY AND THE PETUNIAS written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina, based
on a story by Tamara Schildkraut (Eau Claire, Wisconsin: Hale and Co.,
1959, 1965).
4/2 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Bernice Frankel
(Abelard-Schuman), Jean Cappel, Elaine Cantor, Murray
Schwartz, Marcella berger, 1958-1974, 12 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Abelard-Schuman, 4
February 1959, 4 pp.;
Typescript, 8 July 1958, 3 pp., 1 copy;
Typescript, second draft, 3 pp.;
Typescript, final draft, 30 June 1959, 3 pp., 1 copy;
Typescript, entitled "Tippy's Misadventure," 3 pp.;
Typescript, entitled "Pinky and Petunias," edited,
3 pp., 1 copy;
Typescript, entitled "Pinky and the Petunias," final draft, edited
for printing, plus front and back flap, copyright page and title
page, 11 pp.;
Proof, 16 pp.;
Reviews, 2 pp..
SLEEPY ABC by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina (New
York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1953).
4/3 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Margaret Wise Brown,
Beatrice Creighton, Bertha Klausner, Adrian Shapiro,
1950-1957, 32 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Lothrop, Lee and Shepard,
25 April 1951;
Typescript, 10 September 1950, 1 page;
Typescript, 1 page;
Author's instructions to printer;
Galley, 5 pp.;
Proof with dust jacket;
Promotional material, 1950-1953, 3 items;
Miscellaneous item, "Author's League of America."
THE WONDERFUL FEAST written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina (Eau
Claire, Wisconsin: E. M. Hale, 1955, 1967).
4/4 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Beatrice Creighton,
Louise Banino, Adrian Shapiro, Ruth C. Joyer (Junior Literary
Guild), Milton Walsey (Parish Press), William R. Scott,
Betty Abrams (publicity, Lothrop, Lee and Shepard), Samuel Post
(Crown Publishers), Irvin R. Will (dir., Catholic Rural Life Conference),
Lillian Brown (editorial department, Lothrop, Lee and Shepard),
Frances K. Bowen, James Werblow (E.M. Hale Co.), Barney Stephens
(Wetzel Brothers), Ridley M. Enslow (vice-president, Lothrop,
Lee and Shepard), 1941-1967, 62 items;
Contract between Slobodkina and Lothrop, Lee and Shepard,
15 March 1954;
Dummy, no text or illustrations, 14 pp.;
Dummy, text and illustrations, 11 pp.;
Manuscript, in pencil, 3 pp.;
Typescript, entitled "To Each According to His Needs," 1 page,
original draft, 2 copies;
Typescript, entitled "The Big Feast," copy;
Typescript, copy of final draft with indication for placement of
illustrations, 2 pp.;
Author's notes regarding illustrations, 9 items;
Dust jacket;
Promotional material, 8 items;
Review, 1 item.
D. Unpublished Books
"LITTLE GREGORY" by Rockbridge Campell and Margaret Wise Brown,
illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina.
5/1 Dummy with text, no illustrations.
"SLOBODKINA COOKBOOK" by Esphyr Slobodkina.
5/2 Correspondence,
Patricia Soliman (Howard McCann, Inc.) to Bertha Klausner,
30 April 1969, 1 item;
Dummy.
E. Mural items
5/3 Material associated with mural, 7 items;
5/4 Samples of illustrations for Slobodkina mural in Cook Library
Library, Panels I, II and III, (Oversize in map case);
5/5 Materials for mural, 12 items,
5/6 Pattern used for Pezzo the Peddlar, panel I.
5/7 Miscellaneous material for mural, unidentified cut-out
patterns and apron work by Slobodkina.
F. Miscellaneous
MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO retold by Ruth Tooze, illustrated by William Moyers
(New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1949)
STACKS OF CAPS retold by Ruth Tooze, illustrated by William Moyers (New
York: Wonder Books, 1959).
5/8 Correspondence between Slobodkina and Robert Morris
(attorney, Wilzin & Halperin), Harry B. Sale (attorney,
Sale & Sale), Bill Scott, Bertha Klausner, Doris
Duenewald (Wonder Books), 1952-1959, 11 items;
Typescript, comparison of prose of CAPS FOR SALE and
MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO, 7 pp.;
Books,
MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO (1949);
STACKS OF CAPS (1959).
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