The Oliver G. Burk library of books on Natural History is housed at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. With titles dating back to the 1700's, the Children's Library contains a unique collection of natural history literature. With about 3,000 titles, children and adults alike are sure to find a special book on botany, specialized ecosystems, animals and other topics related to the environment and science.
The library is open to the public for in-house use during normal BRIT hours (M-F 9:00-5:00). Teachers may check out books, videos and curriculum materials for use with their students. BRIT offers special summer programs. Check the children and families special event section for information on programs.
The Oliver G. Burk Children’s Library at BRIT, donated by William R. Burk in honor of his father, is a collection comprised of children’s books on botany and natural history published during a span of three centuries, with the oldest volume dating back to 1790. Mr. Burk, a librarian of biology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, contributed his personal collection of over 2,000 volumes of rare, out of circulation and current children's books. The collection has grown to approximately 3,000 volumes due to an endowment Mr. Burk has made towards the purchase of new volumes for the library.
The collection contains examples of some interesting types of children's books: catechisms of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, chapbooks of the nineteenth century, shape books, board books, cloth books, alphabet books, and educational kits on plants.
One of the most interesting components of the library is a collection of approximately 70 titles exemplifying plant personification; that is, humanization of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Among the most valuable in the collection are the classic Flora's Feast: A Masque of Flowers by Walter Crane (1895) and Elizabeth Gordon's children's books on flowers and vegetables. The oldest book in the collection is The Catechism of Nature for the Use of Children by Johannes Florentius Martinet (Boston, 1790).
