The Little House: Her Story

2017 marked the 75th anniversary of the publication of the children’s book The Little House, written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton (1909–1968). In recognition of that milestone, for the past two years the Cape Ann Museum has been pleased to collaborate with Gallery A4 at the Takenaka Corporation in Tokyo, Japan, creating an exhibition exploring Burton’s extraordinary career and legacy. 

The Sawyer Free Library in Gloucester, the University of Minnesota, the Burton-Demetrios family and the Tokyo Children’s Library also contributed to the project. The exhibition that resulted from this partnership featured archival material and a model of the little house at the center of Burton’s story. 

After being on display at Gallery A4 the exhibition traveled to a handful of other venues around Japan including Spiral, a multi-purpose cultural center in Minami-Aoyama. The exhibition was greeted enthusiastically by large crowds at each site. Now, a year later, the model of Virginia Lee Burton’s Little House that was at the center of the exhibition is on its way to America where it will soon be on display at the Cape Ann Museum.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.