Manuscript Collection MS COLL 00352B - Margaret Bloy Graham Drawings

Identity area

Reference code

CA OTUTF MS COLL 00352B

Title

Margaret Bloy Graham Drawings

Date(s)

  • 1943 (Creation)

Level of description

Manuscript Collection

Extent and medium

2 binders (15 x 13”)

Context area

Name of creator

(1920-2015)

Biographical history

Margaret Bloy Graham (1920-2015) was a Canadian illustrator and author best known for her pictures for the children’s book Harry the Dirty Dog, a collaboration with her then-husband Gene Zion. First published in 1956, the book turned into a series and garnered much praise with Harper Collins releasing a 50th anniversary edition in 2006. Graham also illustrated a series she wrote herself about a dog named Benjy. She was a runner up twice for the Caldecott medal (awarded by the American Library Association to the best illustrated book of the year) for the books All Falling Down (1951) and The Storm Book (1952). Born in Toronto, Graham studied art as a child and earned a degree in art history from the University of Toronto before moving to New York where she pursued a career as a commercial artist.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Gift of Margaret Bloy Graham, 2006.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Collection consists of three cycles of original pen on paper drawings by Margaret Bloy Graham compiled into portfolio-style binders by the artist. The drawings in Look Out Browning: the British Poets Revisited and More Victoriana are illustrations for famous British poems selected from Palgrave’s Golden Treasury, a popular anthology of Victorian poetry originally published in 1861. The drawings are numbered and correspond to an accompanying list with excerpts from the poems illustrated, totaling thirty-six poems by twelve poets including Robert Browning, Percy B. Shelley and Alfred Tennyson, among others. The cycle Pictures with Morals features darkly comedic punishments for children who make mistakes like being too curious, sledding on Sunday, not reading the Bible daily, and trespassing.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

No restrictions on access.

Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-form

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

    Script of material

      Language and script notes

      Physical characteristics and technical requirements

      Finding aids

      Uploaded finding aid

      Allied materials area

      Existence and location of originals

      Existence and location of copies

      Related units of description

      Related descriptions

      Notes area

      Alternative identifier(s)

      Access points

      Subject access points

      Place access points

      Name access points

      Genre access points

      Description control area

      Description identifier

      Institution identifier

      Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto

      Rules and/or conventions used

      Dates of creation revision deletion

      Language(s)

        Script(s)

          Sources

          Accession area