Ken Pound

The Ken Pound collection consists of over 25,000 items relating to Australian and New Zealand children's literature, including rare and ephemeral materials.

Ken Pound came to Australia when he was 14 years old. His passage was part of an assisted migration scheme that relocated children from British orphanages and institutions after World War II. He is one of many 'child migrants' recognised today as the Forgotten Australians.

As an adult, Ken worked as a caretaker at the Brotherhood of St Laurence refuge for homeless men in Fitzroy, where he housed his growing collection of children’s books.

Ken has been collecting children’s books and ephemera for more than 25 years, and he continued to donate to the Library’s children’s books collection for many years.

His collecting tastes are comprehensive: if an item was Australasian and intended for children's reading, he would try to collect it.

The inclusive nature of the Ken Pound collection has influenced the collecting habits of public institutions, which did not previously collect ephemeral items such as advertising material.