AustLit

his article considers the importance of collections of children’s books in the university library, and why they can be of use to scholars. It then addresses the McLaren collection of children's books at the University of Melbourne, creating a small sampling of girls’ books from the collection to discuss the sort of books Australian girls would have been reading in the first half of the twentieth century, and the views and values that authors of this period wanted to pass on to girls. These books are used to address a broader discussion of the historical-cultural value of girls’ books in the collection (Author abstract)..