Marc Brown Papers

Marc Brown (1946-) is an American author and illustrator best known for creating the children's character Arthur the aardvark, the lovable third-grader from Elwood City. Born November 25, 1946, in Erie, Pennsylvania, Brown spent most of his early childhood surrounded by pen, pencils, and paper. His grandmother Thora had an enormous influence on Brown at an early age, and he used her encouragement when he decided to pursue painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art. After exploring all types of mediums, Brown knew that he wanted to pursue a career in illustration, specifically concentrating on the illustration of children's books.

Although this was the path that Brown wanted to take, he was not always encouraged by his peers at the Institute. In fact, Brown has been quoted as saying, "When I let my interest in children's book illustration be known, I got the definite message that the field was absolutely the lowest rung on the artistic ladder." Shortly after graduating in 1969 with a B.F.A. in painting, Brown presented sample drawings to the Boston, Massachusetts publisher Houghton-Mifflin who told him that they would contact him in the event that they were interested. Luckily, they did. With this first experience in illustrating for a major publisher, Brown learned more about the professional world of illustrating and decided to make it his career.

After a short time spent illustrating textbooks, Brown decided to expand into more creative outlets and did so with his first non-textbook illustration, Issac Asimov's What Makes the Sun Shine? After steadily working as an illustrator for other authors for several years, Brown's most famous character evolved after telling his son a bedtime story one night. The story was about an aardvark named Arthur with a very large nose. This bedtime story eventually became a children's book appropriately titled Arthur's Nose, which was published in 1976.

After the success of Arthur's Nose, Brown began to publish even more books about the endearing aardvark. However, not until the debut of the animated television show Arthur, on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network, did the popularity of the Arthur books (as well as the television series) really skyrocket. Since the success of the show, the Arthur program has won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and three daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Animated Program. It has also won the accolades of parents and teachers alike for its emphasis on literacy as well as various children's issues.

The success of the Arthur series has garnered interest in another character from the same series-Buster Baxter, the cheerful and outgoing rabbit who is also Arthur's best friend. Buster now has his own series, Postcards from Buster, which focuses on his travels to various places, primarily in the United States, with his father. The show gained notoriety in 2005 when it attracted the attention of U.S. Department of Education Secretary, Margaret E. Spellings, for including a lesbian couple on the show. Spellings wrote to PBS, "Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode." As a result of the controversy, PBS pulled the episode and did not distribute it to its affiliate stations. On a more positive note, Buster has received a Parent's Choice Television Award and has also been nominated for two Emmy Awards. It continues to gain popularity with children and parents alike, and has been praised for its emphasis on exposing kids to different cultures as well as its focus on developing language skills.

Brown looks for inspiration in everyday situations for his beloved characters and other projects. "I feel like a professional eavesdropper," he admitted to John Micklos, Jr. in Reading Today. "I'm always listening for situations that are important for kids and families." Arthur continues to be the most watched show on PBS and one of the highest rated children's shows in North American television history. Brown remains the executive producer of the show and is involved in new and exciting projects, both within the Arthur world and in other creative outlets.