Founded in 1946, Young People’s Records (YPR) was one of the first record labels dedicated to releasing interactive music for elementary and preschool-age children. It was founded by musician Horace Grenell, a Juilliard graduate and former music professor at Sarah Lawrence College, and owned by attorney Abraham Pomerantz. By 1949, YPR was selling over one million records a year, primarily to the 100,000 members of its mail-order club. The label released music by luminaries such as Pete Seeger, Oscar Brand, and Charity Bailey, but much of the label’s reputation came from the contributions of Tom Glazer, who recorded over forty records intended for young audiences. Within several years of its founding, the label was acquired by John Stevenson and Milo Sutliff, owners of the Children's Record Guild, who continued to distribute and market the music under Grenell's direction. Young People's Records and the Children's Record Guild were the first commercially significant record clubs in the world.

Young People’s Records was visionary in its early embrace of vinyl for its 10” records, rather than the then-popular shellac. The label’s bright-colored artwork and unique packaging were designed to draw children to the records. In turn, the music and lyrics, often composed by progressive music educator Judith Sidorsky, employed sing-alongs and dramatic play to transform the listening process into an interactive opportunity for learning. The content tended to eschew fairy tales and fantasy in favor of subjects that children might encounter in their everyday life, as well as folk tales and music education.

The catalog was generously gifted to Smithsonian Folkways in 2021 by John Stevenson's daughters Susan Brown, Laura Maslon, and Francine Ringold. Select titles have been made widely available for the first time in many decades.