Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Inc

The only full-scale museum of its kind in the United States, The Carle collects, preserves, presents, and celebrates picture books and picture book illustrations from around the world. In addition to underscoring the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of picture books and their art form, The Carle offers educational programs that provide a foundation for arts integration and literacy.

Eric Carle and wife, the late Barbara Carle, founded the Museum in November 2002. Eric Carle is the renowned author and illustrator of more than 70 books, including the 1969 classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Since opening, the 40,000-foot facility has served more than half a million visitors, including 30,000 schoolchildren. Its extensive resources include a collection of more than The Carle houses more than 13,000 objects, including 6,600 permanent collection illustrations, three art galleries, an art studio, a theater, picture book and scholarly libraries, and educational programs for families, scholars, educators, and schoolchildren. Educational offerings include professional training for educators around the country. 

In 2013, The Carle was awarded The Commonwealth Award for Creative Learning, the highest honor in Massachusetts, for our work in education. In 2015 and 2016, The Carle was named a finalist for the National Medal, the country's highest honor for a museum, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Exhibitions from The Carle are currently on view in Amherst, MA, as well as at the New-York Historical Society in New York, NY, The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA and the Seongnam Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea. "Very Eric Carle: A Very Hungry, Quiet, Lonely, Clumsy, Busy Exhibit," co-organized by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is traveling to children's museums nationwide for the next nine years.