Children’s Literature at Trinity College Dublin
In 2005, Trinity College received a bequest of over 10,000 children’s books, the Pollard Collection of Children’s Books. This extraordinary gift from Mary (‘Paul’) Pollard (1922-2005), former Keeper of Early Printed Books at TCD, contains material from the 17th century to approximately 1914. It holds many books of Irish interest, and includes moral tales and tracts, readers, chapbooks, 19th-century annuals, and serials. In total, Trinity College Library holds over 150,000 children’s books.
Research in Children’s Literature can be found in a number of Schools and Departments throughout Trinity College. The School of English has taught Children’s Literature as part of its undergraduate programme for over twenty years and now runs Ireland’s only full-time Masters programme in the area. Students of Children’s Literature at the School have the opportunity to participate in an exchange programme with Yale University.
In 2013, academics from the School of English and the Church of Ireland College of Education received a major Irish Research Council/Government of Ireland research grant to establish a National Collection of Children’s Books. This two-year interdisciplinary project – which examines children’s book collections, in the English language, in the city of Dublin – aims to establish Dublin as a world centre of children’s literature research (www.nccb.tcd.ie).