Children’s book historian Leonard Marcus presented his lecture, “A New Deal for the Nursery: Golden Books and the Democratization of American Children’s Book Publishing,” yesterday as a part of the Jones Distinguished Lecture series. The lecture was sponsored by the Jones Institute for Educational Excellence and the Emporia State Archives.

“It was interesting to hear the history behind Golden Books,” said Courtney Cohen, elementary education major said. “It’s just interesting to hear where things came from.”...

... Marcus’ presentation was based on his book “Golden Legacy” which talks about how Golden Books democratized children’s book publishing in America by providing good books that were affordable.

“We all grew up with golden books and evidently the way they came to be changed publishing in America and really brought affordable, high quality children’s literature to the general public,” Eusey said.

Marcus will also be presenting a lecture for educators entitled “Minders of Make-Believe: or, Children’s Book History in Ten Giant Steps from the New England Primer to Harry Potter” today at 3 p.m. in Visser Hall Room 330. The additional presentation is based on Marcus’ book Minders of Make Believe, which is a history of Children’s literature from the Massachusetts colony up to Harry Potter.