The Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature in the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries contains more than 130,000 books and serials published in Great Britain and the United States from the mid-17th century through the present.

The product of Ruth Baldwin's 40-year collection development efforts, this vast assemblage of literature printed primarily for children offers an equally vast territory of topics for the researcher to explore: education and upbringing, family and gender roles, civic values, racial, religious, and moral attitudes, literary style and format, and the arts of illustration and book design.

[2][3][4] One of the strengths of the Baldwin Library collection is its large number of comparative editions of classic stories such as Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim's Progress, Aesop's Fables and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The Baldwin Library has the largest collection of Early American Juvenile Imprints of any U.S. academic institution.

On April 29, 1975, Baldwin visited the University of Florida to attend a lecture from Joy Anderson, a UF professor and author.