The museum staff has some fun in front of the newly revealed institute sign. Pictured, back row: Ben Sapp, Dr. Jerry Mallett, Terry Olthouse and Barb McCrory. Pictured, front row: Jeff Salisbury. Photo credit: Anne Risser Lee

Jerry J. Mallett, Ed.D., founder of the Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books at The University of Findlay, was honored Tuesday, July 15, with the dedication of the newly created “Dr. Jerry J. Mallett Institute.”     

More than 200 people attended the dedication ceremony in the Virginia B. Gardner Fine Arts Pavilion at which the Institute’s name was formally unveiled. A program recounting Mallett’s life and accomplishments preceded the unveiling.    

The Mallett Institute will serve as the umbrella organization encompassing the Mazza Museum and its related 28 educational programs and outreach activities. Included are the Mazza Fall Weekend and Summer Institutes for teachers and school librarians.    

Also announced was the “Dr. Jerry J. Mallett Institute Endowment Fund,” established with a gift by Michael and Anne Mallett and their children. The endowment fund will be used to support the operations of the Mazza Museum. Family, friends and museum enthusiasts have committed more than $700,000 in honor of Mallett.     

During the program, Michael Mallett estimated that his father’s enthusiasm for picture books and interest in literacy has directly and indirectly touched millions of lives during his career.    

Mallett, who has served as a professor of education at The University of Findlay since 1968, was instrumental in the 1982 founding of what was then known as the Mazza Collection: a collection of four pieces of original art from children’s picture books donated by Findlay College alumni Dr. August Mazza and his late wife, Aleda (Pfost) Mazza.     

Mallett has devoted his life’s work to teaching children to read and promoting an appreciation of language arts, children’s literature and children’s book illustrations. He has served as an elementary school teacher and principal, college professor, children’s book author and children’s literacy expert.    

He recognized early that the illustrations in children’s picture books are key in helping children learn to read and that the artwork extends and expands the meaning and context of the story.    

The Mazza Museum is widely known for its pioneering appreciation of children’s book art, for the scope and quality of its holdings, for its extensive outreach to children and adults with educational programming, for the recognition and the regard in which it is held by professional educators and artists, and for the enthusiastic support of the local community.    

The Mazza Museum is the first and largest teaching museum focused on literacy and the art of children’s picture books in the world. Showcasing the highest quality in children’s book art, the museum has more than 3,700 pieces of original art and attracts more than 25,000 visitors each year. The Mazza Museum celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007, and Mallett stepped down from his role as director to become the curator, with his longtime deputy director, Benjamin Sapp, succeeding him.