'Where the Wild Things Are' Artwork Being Housed at UConn

STORRS, CT — The artwork of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ author Maurice Sendak will be archived at the University of Connecticut, school officials said Wednesday.

The finished artwork for his published books, and certain manuscripts, sketches and other related materials created by Sendak, considered by many to be a leading artist of children’s books in the 20th century, will be hosted and maintained in Storrs under an agreement approved by UConn’s Board of Trustees.

The Maurice Sendak Foundation will continue to own the artwork and source materials for books such as "Where the Wild Things Are" and "In the Night Kitchen" and "Outside Over There," which will serve as a resource for research by students, faculty, staff, scholars and the general public through the Department of Archives & Special Collections in the UConn Libraries.

The housing of The Maurice Sendak Collection at UConn is being supported by a grant from The Maurice Sendak Foundation.

“You would only have to spend an afternoon with Maurice to know that he was the ultimate mentor and nurturer of talent,” said Lynn Caponera, president of The Maurice Sendak Foundation. “He profoundly admired UConn’s dedication to the art of the book, both in its collections and in its teachings. We, the friends who he entrusted to carrying on his legacy through the Foundation, couldn’t be more pleased with this exciting collaboration.”

Archives and Special Collections includes the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection, which contains 120 archives of notable authors and illustrators of children’s literature native to or identified with the Northeast and East Coast of the United States. The collection, established in 1989, preserves every aspect of children’s book production – from the initial correspondence to preliminary drawings, finished art, dummies, mechanicals, proofs, galleys and manuscripts.

Significant holdings in the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection include the archives of leading authors and illustrators who have won major honors such as the Caldecott Medal, Caldecott Honor, John Newbery Medal and Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, among others. It also contains “The Billie M. Levy Collection of Maurice Sendak” of more than 800 monographs written and illustrated by Sendak along with "realia" manufactured for children, such as promotional toys, games, animals and other times that relate to Sendak’s stories and characters.

“Maurice Sendak created books that will live forever. His work changed the course of children’s literature in the twentieth century,” said Katharine Capshaw, professor of English and president of the Children’s Literature Association. “From Where the Wild Things Are to the Nutshell Library to We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, Sendak’s books connect profoundly to children’s inner fears and vast resourcefulness. He treated young people with respect, valuing their creativity and sense of ethics, and his work illuminated the joy and mystery of the imagination. The Maurice Sendak Collection will be an invaluable resource for our undergraduate students in English, Creative Writing, Art and Art History, the Neag School of Education, and Psychology, as well as our graduate students and visiting scholars. Given Sendak’s life as a Connecticut resident and his longstanding connection to the University of Connecticut, his work has found an apt home. They will enrich Connecticut students and the intellectual and aesthetic life of our community.”

Sendak lived in Connecticut and supported UConn for many years, speaking to the children’s literature classes of Francelia Butler, professor of English, in the 1970s and 1980s and supporting the legacy of James Marshall, author of the “George and Martha” books. The James Marshall Fellowship at UConn is awarded biennially to a promising author and/or illustrator to assist with the creation of new children's literature. In 1990, Sendak delivered a commencement address at UConn and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts.

Maurice Sendak’s children’s books have sold more 30 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages.

He received the 1964 Caldecott Medal for "Where the Wild Things Are" and is the creator of such classics as "Higglety Pigglety Pop!" and "Nutshell Library."

He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Illustration in 1970, Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association in 1983, and a National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America in 1996. Sendak received the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an annual international prize for children’s literature established by the Swedish government in 2003.

After his death in 2012 at the age of 83, The New York Times noted Sendak is “widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche… [his] books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children.”

“The availability of Maurice Sendak’s work to students, faculty, and the community, as part of the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection, is an incredible gift and opportunity,” said Cora Lynn Deibler, head of the Department of Art and Art History and a professor of illustration. “Archives & Special Collections allows us unprecedented access to anything and everything in their holdings. Our faculty takes advantage specifically in Illustration and Animation because it provides an important window into the working worlds of some of the most elite, accomplished visual storytellers of our time.

“Imagine now opening up students to the world of one of the most celebrated creators of visual literature for children’s picture books … and walking across campus to take part in what amounts to a private master class with Maurice Sendak. As you pore through the work, you will be receiving a one-on-one tutorial in excellence in the form- from creativity and concept, through design and execution. Sendak’s work housed here is such an incredible gift for us all. We could not be more fortunate.”

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel