Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books

Closest major intersection College Street and Spadina Ave.

Public Transit

TTC College streetcar from College subway station west to Spadina.
TTC College streetcar from Queen's Park subway station west to Spadina.
TTC Spadina streetcar from Union subway station north to College.
TTC Spadina streetcar south from Spadina subway station to College.

Parking

Paid - Meter parking along Huron Street, more parking at Clarke Institute of Psychiatry on north side of College - entrance on Spadina.

General Features

• Art Exhibit Space
• Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books
• Seating for 28

Technology

• Wireless (Wi-Fi)

Collections

• Canadiana Collection - reference collection of children's books written or illustrated by Canadians, or pertaining to Canada.
• Jean Thomson Collection of Original Book-Related Art
• Lillian H. Smith Collection - reference collection of notable children's books in English, primarily British and American, from 1911 to the present.
• Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books - reference collection of historic English-language children's books ranging from the 14th century to the end of 1910.
• Reference Collection of background materials

1949	Edgar Osborne presented his collection of over 2,000 historical British children's books to the TPL Board.
1958	First volume of the Catalogue of the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books published.
1962	Lillian H. Smith Collection of Children's Books established to mark the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of children's library services in Toronto, and named in honour of Lillian H. Smith (1887-1983), the librarian who pioneered them.
1966	Friends of the Osborne and Lillian H. Smith Collections organized.
1978	The Canadiana Collection was inaugurated.
1995	Boys & Girls House branch closed 1 April. New Lillian H. Smith branch opened 18 October. Phillip H. Carter, Architect.
2001	Online cataloguing of Osborne Collection begun.