FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rhonda Brown
October 8, 2009
(701) 328-2822
BISMARCK – Parents worldwide use bedtime stories as a means of enticing youngsters to drift off to sleep. The Sleepy Time Picture Book was published in 1946 as an enjoyable aid to parents in completing this classic childhood bedtime ritual. The State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND) has reprinted the book as the eighth in a series of reproductions of children’s books from the collections of the state’s history agency.
Beautiful, full color illustrations, complete with the new moon and the sandman, fill the pages of this beautiful book of bedtime poems for children by Cathryn Taylor. The original book was printed by Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin.
Enjoyed by the two sons of Jack and Thelma Liessman Vantine of Bismarck, North Dakota, this book is part of a SHSND collection which contains items from three generations between 1900 and 2000, donated by the Charles and Viola Liessman families of Tuttle, North Dakota and Bismarck.
Previous classic reprints by the SHSND have included a 1953 version of The Big Book of Mother Goose (2008), 1946 version of Cinderella (2007), a 1904 version of The Night Before Christmas (2006), an 1897 version of Beauty and the Beast (2005), a 1942 Three Little Kittens book (2004), an 1888 version of Red Riding Hood (2003), and an 1896 edition of The Night Before Christmas (2002). The first two reprints, Red Riding Hood and the 1896 edition of The Night Before Christmas, are no longer available for sale. The other five reprints are still available for purchase.
The reprints have been funded by the North Dakota Heritage Center Museum Store.
"One of our most important mandates as the state’s history agency is to share our collections with the people of North Dakota, and this is an excellent way of doing that," said Mark Halvorson, the SHSND’s curator of collections research.
The original book is now on display in the lobby of the North Dakota Heritage Center through January 31, 2010. Visitors are able to compare the original with a copy of the republished book displayed next to it. The Heritage Center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Only $9.95, this 14-page limited edition, full-color book reproduction is available at the North Dakota Heritage Center Museum Store in Bismarck, the Pembina State Museum in Pembina, the Chateau de Mores Interpretive Center in Medora, and the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center near Williston, as well as select bookstores statewide. For mail orders, call Museum Stores Manager Rhonda Brown at (701) 328-2822, email at museumstore@nd.gov or visit www.history.nd.gov/museumstore (add $3.95 for shipping and handling, and North Dakota residents add $1.01 state sales tax).
Note: A high-resolution JPEG showing the cover of the 1946 version of The Sleepy Time Picture Book is available by contacting Communications and Education Director Rick Collin at (701) 328-1476 or email at rcollin@nd.gov .
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Address:
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