The collection contains the original artwork, page proofs, and book dummy for the children's book San Francisco Boy written and illustrated by Lois Lenski. Published in 1955 by J.B. Lippincott, San Francisco Boy is a work of historical fiction geared towards middle grade readers depicting the lives of Chinese American children in San Francisco's Chinatown during the mid-20th century.

Lois Lenski (1893-1974) was an award-winning author and illustrator of children's books. She was born in 1893 in Springfield, OH. Although she trained to become a teacher, she followed her passion to study art in New York City after graduating college. In the fall of 1920, she travelled to Europe to study and work. Lenski was first hired in London to illustrate books for the publisher John Lane. She returned from abroad in 1921 and spent much of her early career as an illustrator for children's books written by others, including Watty Piper's The Little Engine That Could (1930) and the Betsy Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. Later, upon her publisher's suggestion she also began to write stories to accompany her illustrations. In 1927, Lenski published her first book, Skipping Village, and in the following year, A Little Girl of 1900, both of which are based on her childhood experiences. In the 1930's and early 1940's she created several books in two categories – picture books for very young children and fictionalized historical books aimed at older youth that told of children's lives in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first category includes The Little Family (1932), the first picture book designed to fit the small hands of toddlers, and the Mr. Small series. The second includes Phebe Fairchild: Her Book (1937) and Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison (1941), both of which garnered a Newbery Honor. In the 1940's Lenski's health issues prompted her to spend winters in the warmer climate of the South, first in Louisiana and then in Florida. It was during her travels that she began researching and working on her series of regional books, which told the stories of children growing up in lesser known parts of the country. Her research methodology involved not only archival research but also visiting and staying with local families, and talking to classrooms of children who told her about their lives. Beginning with Bayou Suzette (1943), based on life in the Louisiana backcountry, Lenski wrote some 16 regional books over the next twenty years. Her second regional book Strawberry Girl (1945), about a farming family who migrates to the Florida backwoods, won the Newbery Medal in 1946. San Francisco Boy (1955), about a Chinese boy who struggles to adapt to life in the big city, was her eleventh in the series. In December 1952, she received an invitation from Mrs. Dina Gianni's fourth graders at Commodore Stockton School in San Francisco's Chinatown to come visit them. Other letters followed during the next couple of years, accompanied by drawings and paintings by the students depicting all phases of their daily lives, until she finally made the visit to San Francisco in June 1954.

1 box (0.5 Linear Feet)

Copyright has not been assigned to the San Francisco Public Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to Book Arts & Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

Collection is open for research and is available for use during Book Arts & Special Collections hours.