The children's book, published in 1911, remains one of Burnett's most popular works, according to Gerzina, who presented the keynote address on Friday.
"We are so familiar with this book and its impact on boys and girls around the world that it's hard to imagine that it was appreciated, but not celebrated, in its own time that it took decades for it to achieve the kind of fame that we associate with it today," Gerzina said in the address.
The centennial conference included an exhibit in Rauner Special Collections Library, a screening of the 1949 film adaptation starring Margaret O'Brien on Friday and a series of panels with biographers, children's literature editors and relatives of Burnett on Saturday to discuss topics from biography writing to editing and collecting.
Burnett wrote 53 novels, wrote numerous stories and magazine articles and produced 13 plays on both London's West End and Broadway, according to Gerzina.
Burnett "see-sawed" across the Atlantic between her original home in England and America, her adopted home, 33 times, according to Gerzina.
"Americans thought of her as American, and the English though of her as English," Gerzina said.
Gerzina's keynote opened the conference after an introduction by Dean of the Libraries Jeffrey Horrel, which focused on the themes of illness and disability in the context of Victorian society.
Friday's reception was held in Rauner for a viewing of the exhibition, entitled "Cultivating Secret Gardens: Frances Hodgson Burnett and Children's Fiction," curated by Braunstein and special collections librarian Jay Satterfield.
The collection consists of materials ranging from first editions of the novel to film and play adaptations.
"The exhibition is really important to put materials in context and to understand any individual item by seeing things around it and having the curator give some sort of narrative to it," Braunstein said.
Burnett was instrumental in advocating for authors' rights to retain control of adaptations of their novels and characters, according to Braunstein. Angered by an unauthorized play adaptation of "The Secret Garden" in London, Burnett successfully sued to retain control of her intellectual property, according to Braunstein.
"The lawsuit set a precedent that led to stronger laws protecting creative works from piracy and unlicensed adaptation," Braunstein said.
In addition to the 1949 film screened this weekend, "The Secret Garden" was adapted in 1975, 1987 and 1993, according to Gerzina. Children are most aware, however, of the 1993 production starring Maggie Smith, according to Ann Thwaite, author of "Waiting for the Party: The Life of Frances Hodgson Burnett," who spoke in a Saturday panel with Gerzina.
In a 2003 survey, 42 percent of English children had heard of "The Secret Garden," but only 6 percent had read the book. By contrast, 100 percent had heard of Harry Potter and 81 percent had read the book, according to Thwaite.
"I want to reclaim The Secret Garden' for the children and not leave it in the hands of literature specialists," Thwaite said. "I would just like everyone to have a little crusade to introduce more and more people to it."
Thwaite said in an interview with The Dartmouth that she was driven to write her biography on Burnett because of the impact "The Secret Garden" had on her childhood.
"I was inspired by the suggestions that [Burnett] wasn't a very attractive character," Thwaite said. "I was sure that I would find her much more sympathetic."
In their panel, Gerzina and Thwaite compared their different approaches to writing biographies on Burnett.
Speakers also included Michael Patrick Hearn, editor of "The Annotated Wizard of Oz;" John Matteson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Eden's Outcasts: The story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father;" Peter Hunt, editor of "The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature;" and Penny Deupree, Burnett's great-granddaughter.
The Rauner exhibitition will continue until Aug. 31.
