Mr. Rogers greets sleeping baby © Author Adventures

Fred Rogers, A Favorite PBS Star

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and the Fred Rogers Center at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe both honor the life and works of author and PBS icon Fred Rogers (1928-2003). Read about the popular television personality here: https://www.fredrogersinstitute.org/about-fred.

When I met Mr. Rogers at a special event connected to the inception of his Hollywood Walk of Fame star, while carrying my sleeping infant (see photo, this page), someone snapped a quick photo and sent it to me a short time later. Mr. Rogers seemed to like our little one and asked, “Would you send me a copy of that picture? Just mail it to ‘Mr. Rogers, Pittsburgh, PA’ and it will get to me. I get a lot of mail sent to that address. It’s like Santa. You don’t need any more for the address than that.” I thought it was interesting that he wanted the physical photo versus an emailed attachment to align with generations of correspondence sent to him through the mail.

Given the choice, I would still rather be in the company of Mr. Rogers than Santa. Visiting these centers will give you a chance to see why this author was so important.

“When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes, flew through the air, or picked up buildings with one arm. They were spectacular and got a lot of attention. But as I grew, my heroes changed, so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me.” –Fred Rogers

His Writings and Recordings

Find a list of books by Mr. Rogers here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/fred-rogers.html.

His audio recordings can be found here: https://www.discogs.com/artist/1387039-Mister-Rogers and his videos are here: https://pbskids.org/video/mister-rogers.

The Movie

In 2019, the feature film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood was released. It starred Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers.

On our Pennsylvania Author Adventures Trail, the Fred Rogers Center in Latrobe is the eleventh stop and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is the twelfth.

Patricia Smart