Sent: 20 August 2011 14:10

Hera and others who may be interested,

I've observed a few differences, but if anyone has exceptions or any
thoughts to the contrary I would love to hear them. I haven't yet taken a
formal study on this topic.

Childhood instruction manuals of the Great Depression emphasize household
safety. I would have thought they would talk about the importance of thrift,
and they do somewhat; but it seems to me that the clash of older household
technologies with new during the interwar period is the primary problem many
manuals address. My favorite of these is a well-worn and -used edition of
"Rehearsal for Safety" (1939). This book helped children learn about safety
by presenting a number of plays with minimal need for set design or props.
In nearly every play, infants and children are horrifically maimed by
household carelessness - pots of scalding water left on stoves, houses burnt
to cinders by parents who remember having candles on Christmas trees as
children but not knowing how to use them safely, children breaking limbs by
slipping on roller skates left on the stairs, children becoming maimed by
running out in front of cars, a kid gets tetanus from a nail, etc. (Yes,
this was intended for elementary school-age children.)

While "Rehearsal for Safety" has some pretty macabre examples to drive the
point home, I think it is symptomatic of increased urbanization and
household mechanization and the need for safety instruction. I've seen the
same drive for safety instruction for children and adults in magazines of
the interwar period, though most are aimed at adults needing to understand
the difference between how they were told about safety as children and the
new dangers children face in an urbanized world.

I would suspect that thriftiness and helping parents would be a concern in
the Great Depression, and I'd love to see more examples, particularly of
migrant camp literature that may have been aimed at children (if any). I've
read some memoirs of migrant camp organizers who aimed any childhood
instruction at relieving anxieties about family structure (I don't believe
these efforts left behind any brochures or booklets because of cost), but
I'd love to see more examples.

As for World War II, it doesn't surprise me that sex instruction manuals
were more explicit. Donald Duck has some amusing posters about syphilis and
condoms out there!

If anyone is interested in looking at one angle on child instruction manuals
from World War II, the University of Denver has an exhaustive cookbook
collection that should yield some results. I've collected some manuals for
children that talk about food rationing (mostly aimed at girls) and
collecting scrap for patriotic drives (mostly aimed at boys) as a way they
can do their part while their fathers are fighting overseas. Patriotism
almost becomes a framing device for teaching values of thrift and family
togetherness than an impetus for instruction by itself (I emphasize almost).
Many of the best sources about food I've found are from flour, sugar, and
lard companies releasing instruction for different ages - as Mother is
baking a pie, here's how you can help her, here's how to understand why you
can't have meat every day, boys should pick up any stray metal they find
while playing, that sort of thing.

These observations are probably driven by the kinds of items I've been able
to find moreso than a lit survey, so I wouldn't take my thoughts as anything
definitive or general. I am more confident about teenage sex instruction of
the 1950s because there are so many more sources. But these thoughts may
provide some sparks for anyone on the list who is interested in this type of
research.

Jennifer Goodland
Metropolitan State College of Denver

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 4:52 PM, Hera Cook <h.cook@bham.ac.uk> wrote:

> Dear Jennifer,
>
>
> I wondered if you had any thoughts about the interwar childhood
instruction
> manuals in their own time ie the interwar period, compared to the new ones
> in the 1950s


> Hera
>

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