The Dutch Stichting Geschiedenis Kinder- en Jeugdliteratuur (SGKJ) or ‘Society for the History of Children's and Youth Literature’ is a non-governmental, non-profit organization supported by donations. The organization started in 1985 and was established as the SGKJ in 1993. It represents a network of about 200 scholars, private collectors, library and museum specialists, antiquarian booksellers and other people interested in children's and youth literature and related subjects of days gone by. The society doesn’t curate a collection of children’s books but there are members who own a private collection.
The mission of the SGKJ is to promote research, publications and preservation of Dutch children's and youth's books and catchpenny prints and to enhance knowledge sharing and growth by:
- publishing the magazine SGKJ-Berichten (twice a year, in Dutch);
- organizing seminars (twice a year);
- organizing excursions with lectures to children’s books expositions and collections in The Netherlands (twice a year);
- the publication of a book in the series De Waare Rijkdom as a New Year's gift for the members of the SGKJ; the books are written in Dutch; De Waare Rijkdom, ‘The true wealth’, is named after a famous poem by Hieronymus van Alphen;
- presenting the Hieronymus van Alphen Award to recognize the excellence and merits of a person researching and promoting children’s literature (once every two years);
- publishing the e-mail newsletter SGKJ-Nieuwsbrief;
- collaborating with other societies on books and heritage;
- this website (in Dutch), which contains information on the SGKJ-society and activities, information on cataloguing children’s book collections and a selection of digitized old children's books, movable books and catchpenny prints.
Responses and questions are welcome at StichtingGKJ@gmail.com.