Anything is possible.
Our mission is to acquire, preserve, provide access to, and showcase literary works, artistic endeavors, and inventions created by children. Our vision is to let kids inspire kids.
The Children’s Collection (TCC) is a nonprofit corporation established in January 2021 and based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The idea for TCC came when the founder stumbled upon a book called Where the Mountains Meet the Plains: The Cimarron Country Past and Present. The book was written and illustrated by the 4th grade class of Cimarron Elementary, bound, and published by the Tribune Press. A quick, easy, informative read, the book gives a full history of the county and its people and is clearly the result of hard work, dedication, and love.
This sparked questions such as: Where do books like these end up? Does anyone collect them? How widely are they shared? Do children in other school districts ever see them and learn from them? What about other books by kids?
It also brought to mind a childhood favorite, the book She Was Nice To Mice, by none other than Ally Sheedy when she was 12, and illustrated by 13-year-old Jessica Ann Levy. It was a favorite not only because it was a great story, but because it was written by a kid. The idea was born: Wouldn’t it be great to create a library FOR KIDS and BY KIDS? It quickly expanded to include music, inventions, design, and other creative products by kids.
The goal is to build physical and digital collections from anywhere in the world, all based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There are lots of libraries or museums FOR children but none are dedicated to the works created BY children, with the exception of The Children’s Collection.