The Kerlan Collection

The conception of the Kerlan Collection of Children’s Books at the University of Minnesota was the result of Irvin Kerlan being given Johnny Cottontail, a book written by Margaret Friskey. In the 1940s while working with the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C., the medical doctor began collecting children’s books. With persistence and charm and foresight, he cajoled authors and illustrators to donate materials to his ever-growing collection that would become the Kerlan Collection.

Irvin Kerlan was born into a second generation Jewish immigrant family from Poland whose name was originally Kerlanski. As a rag picker in the St. Cloud, Minnesota suburb of Waite Park, Kerlan’s father made enough money to buy a small store. The family believed strongly in education and the older brothers attended the University of Minnesota where they studied medicine and dentistry. At fourteen, Irvin decided he would enroll at the university, and, although encouraged to attend the university’s high school, he managed to take the academic classes and graduate from the medical school at age twenty. He then took a position in northern Minnesota where he had mixed success in practicing medicine. He returned to the university to enroll in courses in the new field of public health that finally led him to his job in Washington.

He rose in rank and reputation ultimately to become chief of medical research with the FDA. He supervised the research program, wrote articles on toxicity, published widely, and gave speeches around the country. With the high professional standards that he demanded of himself, it is not surprising that his health failed, and he suffered a thrombosis. His physician recommended that he find a quiet hobby.

Thus he turned to books. At first he collected limited editions and records. However, his salary as a civil servant precluded great success in collecting in these high-priced arenas. Therefore, the gift of Johnny Cottontail redirected his collecting energies. Kerlan found he could purchase first printings of books without great expense. After some preliminary investigation, he concluded that there were few notable private collections of contemporary children’s books. Rosenbach and Welch’s collections focused on historic children’s books.

As his work involved travel around the country, he took advantage of his stays to visit such notable authors and illustrators as Clement and Edith Hurd and Leonard Weisgaard. During these visits, Kerlan noticed that the authors usually discarded the studies and dummies after the books had been published. Kerlan became a ransacker of wastebaskets, asking for these cast-off materials.

Contemporaries describe Dr. Kerlan as dapper and meticulous in dress. He led a life filled with cultural activities, such as the Washington, D.C., symphony concerts. He appreciated good food and was a generous host. He invited many people such as Don Freeman who were involved in the children’s book publishing world for meals and overnight stays when they visited Washington.

Kerlan’s position as a physician gave him special access to people who would ask for medical advice, and more than once he provided informed responses. At holiday times, Kerlan would send a scarf or candy as gifts to individual artists. During the war years, these small, thoughtful gifts were often greatly appreciated by authors such as Allison Uttley who lived in war-rationed conditions.

He transformed his house and his lifestyle to accommodate his growing collection of children’s books. A dining room became a book room, where glassware was replaced by books. He placed small paper slips in books, noting the exact date of publication and award achieved, and he earmarked them for the “Treasure Room.” The basement was a shipping room, and Kerlan devised a clever means to guarantee that books were inscribed. In his beautiful penmanship, he addressed the recipient on one side of the brown paper wrapping and wrote his return address on the other. He weighed the package of books “hot off the press” and placed the same postage on each side of the wrapping paper. That meant that the busy author or illustrator would receive the book in the mail, could autograph it and even...