Poetry Books found In the Sandel Collection

One of the oldest books found in the Sandel Collection is Children of Colonial Days by E. Percy Moran written in 1894. Moran was an American artist who was known for his depictions of American history, creating powerful scenes that capture interest in the beauty of America and its people. The poems and stories contained within this book provide the audience with a nostalgic view of America’s early beginnings as an independent nation. This book elicits a sense of national pride as well as a desire for America’s simplicity from its early history. The book uses original watercolored art to provide pictures of colonial days with children and adults in colonial outfits performing rustic or simple activities such as playing with a doll, ice skating, interacting with animals, or doing some form of farming.

Fifty years later the Golden Songbook was published in 1945. This book has a variety of poems and rhymes set to a musical score. What makes this book interesting is that the songs included are from a variety of locations around the world, including France with the song “Frère Jacques.” There are a few Mother Goose poems set to music as well as the American national anthem. This book allows children to enjoy and experience a global understanding of literature. With a variety of poems set to song coming from a variety of places in the world also confirms the popularity and continued desire for children’s poetry for children’s songs, because it provides lasting joy and nostalgic memories to pass on to later generations.

Little Golden Book of Poetry is published a few years later in 1947. This is a small collection of poetry that includes poems from a variety of poets and writers from across history. Some poems can’t be attributed to an author, but the popularity of the poems without an author has allowed them to exist and be read again and again to younger audiences. This book also shows the lasting captivation with children’s poetry with poets and writers, such as Robert Louis Stevenson and Christina Rossetti, well into adulthood. By continuously going back to childhood and writing poems that appeal to children and provide an entertaining, nostalgic quality that becomes popular to an audience of all ages.