Children's Literature Research Collection
113 Elmer L. Andersen Library
University of Minnesota
222 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Bill Peet Papers, 1959-1975. Finding Aid.

Summary Information

Collection Number: CLRC-176

Collection Size: Ca. 0.8 cubic ft. (Illustrative material)

Abstract/Notes: Bill Peet's papers focus on his work as an illustrator of children's books. The collection contains production material for fifteen titles published between 1959 and 1975. Production materials include studies done in a variety of media including crayon and ink, felt pen, ink and pencil, felt pen and pencil, crayon, and crayon and felt pen. There is also one pencil and ink sketch.

Bill Peet placed this collection on permanent loan at the University of Minnesota in 1976.

Collection is non-circulating, in-house use only.

This collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all the necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials.

Prepared by Christina Cowan, February 1999.

This collection was processed with financial assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Biographical/Historical Notes

Bill Peet was born January 29, 1915 in Grandview, Indiana. He attended the John Herron Art Institute and later worked as a sketch artist, continuity illustrator and screenwriter at Walt Disney Studies from 1937-1964. During his years at Walt Disney Studios, Bill Peet worked on such classic films as Fantasia, Cinderella, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians. In 1959, he wrote and illustrated Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure, a book for young children that told of what happens when a haughty lion loses his mane. Throughout his long and prolific career, Bill Peet's works have been lauded by critics for their "warm animal characters" and "inventive stories." Critics have praised his books for their "detail and action and [how] characters come to life before the reader's eyes. They also note how his characters evoke laughter and sympathy as "misfits" yet "through their resourcefulness and compassion they are able to succeed." Bill Peet has also been praised for his prose. He uses poetic devices such as "alliteration" and "internal rhyme" to relate his stories and children love his use of "word play" and "repetition." Bill Peet has received many awards for his books, including a Caldecott Honor citation in 1990 for Bill Peet: An Autobiography (1989).

Scope and Content Notes

The collection contains production material for fifteen titles published 1959 and 1975. It includes artwork from many of Bill Peet's best known titles, including one of his earliest, Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure (1959). The collection consists mainly of studies done in a variety of media including ink and pencil, felt pen, crayon and ink, felt pen and pencil, and crayon and felt pen. The collection also contains one pencil and ink sketch. The materials are arranged by title with box level control.

See attached inventory for box contents.

Collection Inventory

The Ant and the Elephant, 1972
-7 ink and pencil studies (M.C. 830)

Buford, the Little Bighorn, 1967
-1 crayon and ink study (M.C. 830)

The Caboose Who Got Loose, 1971
-1 crayon and ink study (M.C. 830)
-1 pencil and ink sketch (M.C. 830)

Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent, 1975
-1 felt pen and pencil study (M.C. 830)
-1 sheet felt pen and pencil studies (M.C. 830)
-2 felt pen studies (M.C. 830)

Farewell to Shady Glade, 1966
-1 crayon and ink study (M.C. 830)

Fly, Homer, Fly, 1969
-7 crayon and ink studies (M.C. 830)

The Gnats of Knotty Pine, 1975
-5 felt pen and pencil studies [1 with text paste-up] (M.C. 830)
-1 felt pen study (M.C. 830)

How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head, 1971
-6 crayon and felt pen studies (M.C. 830)
-2 crayon and ink studies (M.C. 830)
-1 crayon study (M.C. 830)
-1 crayon layout study (M.C. 830)

Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure, 1959
-1 crayon and ink study (M.C. 830)

Kermit the Hermit, 1965
-1 crayon and ink study (M.C. 830)

Merle the High Flying Squirrel, 1974
-3 ink and pencil studies (M.C. 830)

Smokey, 1962
-2 crayon and ink studies and 1 crayon study pasted on one board (M.C. 830)

The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock, 1972 [c1973]
-1 crayon and ink study (M.C. 830)

The Whingdingdilly, 1970
-4 crayon and ink studies (M.C. 830)

The Wump World, 1970
-1 crayon and ink study (M.C. 830)
-2 sheets crayon and ink studies (M.C. 830)
-1 crayon study (M.C. 830)
-2 sheets ink studies (M.C. 830)

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