Virtual History Exhibit

o create this Horn Book museum without walls - and no closing hours, admission fees, or gift shops - we gathered articles about our earliest years, rare artifacts from our archives, and the voices of some of the best-loved writers and illustrators. Profiles of all our editors are here, and so are sample editorials and scrappy correspondence.

Taken all together, this is a tour through 100 years of growth and change in children's literature, starting with the October 9, 1916, opening of Bertha Mahony's groundbreaking Bookshop for Boys and Girls. 

The Virtual History Exhibit is now in its third incarnation. It was first presented in 1999, the Horn Book Magazine's 75th anniversary year when our website was new and primitive. In 2005 it was updated and made prettier, but with our migration to a new web platform in 2011 it became all but unavailable. We are happy to bring it back in this rearranged and expanded version.

Remember to sign the guest book before you leave and let us know what we should add. Unlike a brick-and-mortar museum, we can make changes without closing the galleries.

Click on a gallery to begin your exploration of the Virtual History Exhibit

Our Roots | Controversies & Kerfuffles | Horn Book Magazine | Listen In | Horn Book Guide | Authors & Illustrators

Click on the scrapbook cover below to view photos, newspaper clippings, artwork and more memorabalia from the early decades of Horn Book Magazine history.

Acknowledgements