The New Orleans Public Library Juvenile Division went out of existence in the mid-1980s. Mrs. Bernice G. Zilrech, the retiring division head, compiled the following materials to be preserved in the City Archives. The collection consists of newspaper publicity clippings, scripts from a local television show, scrapbooks, magazines, and books. Accompanying the collection is a preliminary inventory describing materials, much of which has been included in the following descriptions of materials.

Newspaper clippings included in this collection span the years 1961-1978. They include articles from the New Orleans Times Picayune, The States, The Item, The Clarion Herald, The Vieux Carre Courier, and Reader’s Digest. Clippings were removed from the newspapers, pasted onto blank sheets of paper, and then laminated by Juvenile Division staff.

The scripts included are from the children’s story program “Let’s Tell a Story,” broadcast over WDSU-TV in cooperation with the New Orleans chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women. Live sessions taped at New Orleans Public Library locations around the city began as early as 1946 and continued until 1951, when WDSU accepted a proposal for a children’s television program. “Let’s Tell a Story” was a 15 minute story-telling program that aired on WDSU until 1975. Most scripts in this collection are dated, although some were reused for multiple programs. Additional “Let’s Tell a Story” records are held by Tulane University’s Howard-Tilton Memorial Library as part of the Louisiana Research Collection.

There are seven scrapbooks included in this collection. Volumes 1-6 contain clippings from advertisements, greeting cards, and other publication pasted into the books; no descriptions or captions accompany the images. Three of these volumes are dated with an owner/ author included. The remaining three offer no identifying information, but seem to contain material from the same time periods. The final scrapbook, compiled by Lois Garrison, is a contemplation on children’s literature and was completed in 1932. “Come, Let Us Read” includes reviews of children’s literature, stories, drawings, illustrations, and clippings from newspapers and magazines relating to the subject of children’s literature.