Animals Are Us: Anthropomorphism in Children’s Literature; Celebrating the Peter J. Solomon Collection
Why do we tell stories to children through and about animals? Are there reasons why we shouldn’t? Animals Are Us invites explores these questions and more through influential historic examples of anthropomorphism in dialogue with contemporary books drawn from the collection of Peter J. Solomon (Harvard College Class of 1960, MBA 1963) and the holdings of Houghton Library. The exhibition invites you to engage critically with animal anthropomorphism, and delight in the artfulness of this enduring literary genre. Catalog of an exhibition on view at Houghton Library, Harvard University, September 1, 2021 - January 7, 2022.
Why do we tell stories to children through and about animals? Are there reasons why we shouldn’t? Animals Are Us invites explores these questions and more through influential historic examples of anthropomorphism in dialogue with contemporary books drawn from the collection of Peter J. Solomon (Harvard College Class of 1960, MBA 1963) and the holdings of Houghton Library. The exhibition invites you to engage critically with animal anthropomorphism, and delight in the artfulness of this enduring literary genre.
Catalog of an exhibition on view at Houghton Library, Harvard University, September 1, 2021 - January 7, 2022.
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34<br />
Helen Bannerman (British, 1862–1946, author-illustrator)<br />
The Story of Little Black Sambo<br />
London: Grant Richards, 1899<br />
13 x 8 cm<br />
Houghton Library, Typ 805.99.1915<br />
Gift of <strong>Peter</strong> J. <strong>Solomon</strong>, 2020<br />
<strong>Children’s</strong> literature has always represented <strong>the</strong> viewpo<strong>in</strong>ts<br />
of dom<strong>in</strong>ant cultural groups. Rudyard Kipl<strong>in</strong>g’s The Jungle<br />
Book (1894) upheld <strong>the</strong> subjugation of Indians under <strong>the</strong><br />
British Raj, which <strong>in</strong>cluded colorism. While liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> British<br />
India, Helen Bannerman wrote this story to amuse her two<br />
daughters. The dark-sk<strong>in</strong>ned Indian boy named Sambo (a<br />
pejorative term for an African dat<strong>in</strong>g back to <strong>the</strong> eighteenth<br />
century) outwits a succession of va<strong>in</strong> tigers, who eventually<br />
chase <strong>the</strong>mselves <strong>in</strong>to buttery oblivion.<br />
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