The Munby Fellowship Trust

Two reasons drew me to study children's book covers. First, during my PhD research with LGBTQ adults, I found their reading memories were strongly tied to physical aspects of the book, like the cover’s colour, smell, and reading environment. This led me to explore book history beyond the text itself. Second, I noticed my favourite childhood book covers often featured a thoughtful, sad-looking girl, which sparked my curiosity about how covers influence readers' choices and connections to stories.

The Munby Fellowship offers access to unique University Library collections, including the Tower Collection, which features books acquired through legal deposit. These aren't typically part of scholarly collections but include genre fiction, instructional books, detective stories, and children's books.

"The Fellowship provides a rare chance to explore these fascinating materials, offering valuable insights into popular culture and publishing trends often overlooked."

My research focused on how children's book covers reflect changes in societal attitudes over time, particularly around gender, race, and class. Until the 1970s and 80s, most covers featured white, able-bodied, middle-class children. Gender roles were very rigid; girls' books often focused on schools, friendships, and domestic settings, while boys' books centred on adventure, colonisation, and empire. By the 1960s, some covers began to challenge traditional gender roles, like picture books showing boys in domestic settings. In the 80s, more multicultural children’s books emerged, reflecting greater diversity.

I enjoyed engaging with the public at various events, including my Munby Lecture on ‘Peter Pan’, which explored the book's visual diversity. Unlike many classic children's books, ‘Peter Pan’ isn’t tied to a single illustrator, allowing for varied interpretations. J.M. Barrie's openness to adaptations (even before publication) has made it an enduring cultural icon, with countless editions, pop-up books and film spin-offs. I was thrilled these events sold out, showing strong public interest in children's literature, a field often overlooked in academia.

‍The Munby Fellowship Trust of over £1 million is fully invested in the Cambridge University Endowment Fund. The Munby Fellowship was founded in memory of the late Alan Noel Latimer Munby, a greatly respected scholar in the field of bibliography, especially in the history of the book trade and of book-collecting. Munby was Librarian of King’s College (1947–74), a Syndic of Cambridge University Library, and generously gave his time and expertise to all who asked for his advice and help in pursuit of their research.

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