"I Always Speak to Dogs and Cats": Early Animal Rights Literature for Children

This exhibition examines the intersection between Victorian children’s literature and the emergent animal rights movement in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Working closely with Jordan Rare Books and Special Collections, we have curated a selection of critical texts in both traditions: Victorian children’s literature and reform writings on the humane treatment of nonhuman animals. We are especially interested in contributions to this literary conversation by Canadian women writers L. M. Montgomery and Marshall Saunders. Therefore, we have devoted a display case to each author and her touchstone works, such as Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon (1923) and Saunders’s Beautiful Joe (1893), which is based on a real dog from Meaford, Ontario. Indeed, the title of this exhibition is taken from a song by the Band of Mercy, an animal rights organization for children that features in Saunders's novel:

I am a Band of Mercy boy, / I would not hurt a fly, / I always speak to dogs and cats, / When'er I pass them by.

Animals figure prominently as educational tools in early children's literature. But we suggest this relationship of instruction may be reversed, with children playing a leading role in reshaping our attitudes toward—and treatment of—nonhuman animals.

This exhibition features works from the Children’s Literature Collection and the Edith and Lorne Pierce Collection of Canadiana, held at W.D. Jordan Rare Books and Special Collections, Queen’s University Library.

This project was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Development Grant.