About the Arne Nixon Center

 

Mission

The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature supports the teaching, research, and public service missions of the university by acquiring, preserving, and making accessible works of historical and artistic significance in the field of children's and young adult literature.
 

Hours

The Center, which is located on the fourth floor of the Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno, is available weekdays by appointment only due to library construction. Please call (559) 278-8116 to schedule an appointment.
 

Patrons

The Center welcomes anyone interested in children's literature. All materials are available for examination. Use by readers is confined to the reading area, where attendants bring requested material. While children under adult supervision are welcome as individuals, the Center's mission is to serve students, faculty, scholars, authors, illustrators, translators, collectors, and critics from a variety of disciplines, including English, education, library science, art, storytelling, history, sociology, women's studies, multicultural studies, and American studies.
 

Access to Materials

Materials can be found through the Library's online catalogue, at http://iii.lib.csufresno.edu/. Some materials are not catalogued; if you do not find what you are looking for, please ask. Materials are not for lending, which means they are always available from the Center's closed stacks. (Out-of-town researchers can receive special rates at a neighboring motel by making reservations through the Arne Nixon Center.)
 

Programs

Planned in-class visits are encouraged. Slide-illustrated lectures for outside groups may also be arranged. These presentations can be tailored to the needs of the class or group. The Center's programs are described in the "Events" section of this Web site. Some programs offer optional university credit. A ten-minute video about the Arne Nixon Center is available for lending. The Arne Nixon Center serves as a liaison between authors and illustrators and the teachers and librarians who use their books with young people. The Center seeks one volunteer for each school in the local area to help disseminate information about its programs. To volunteer, please contact the Center via E-mail at anc@listserv.csufresno.edu.
 

Location

Here are links to maps showing the location of the Arne Nixon Center.
Fresno in California
California State University Campus in Fresno
Henry Madden Library on Campus

 

Founder

Arne John Nixon was born in 1927 in Frederick, South Dakota. He taught school in North Dakota, Washington State (where he taught Native American students), the Sudan, and in Tulare, California. He received his doctorate in education at Columbia University and joined the faculty of California State University, Fresno, in 1961. He taught children's literature and storytelling for more than thirty years, organizing conferences that attracted tens of thousands of people. Visits from dozens of America's best known authors and illustrators helped to establish Fresno State as a center for the study of children's literature.

A sought-after speaker, Dr. Nixon told stories to audiences throughout California and around the world. Wherever he traveled, he bought children's books. He donated his collection of approximately 22,000 volumes to the Henry Madden Library in 1995, founding the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature. When he died in 1997, he left the Library a generous bequest to ensure that the Center would perpetuate his work.

Arne Nixon's listeners encouraged him to write his own books for children, but Dr. Nixon always declined. "It is the function of some people to be a lamp and some to be a mirror," he explained. "I have been very pleased to function as a mirror of others' work." Maybe so, but it was a magic mirror, one that changed the lives of his students and audiences. His spirit and his work live on in the Arne Nixon Center.

 

Staff

Angelica Carpenter, Curator
Jennifer Crow, Library Assistant
Mila Rianto, Library Assistant