The notions of a “vacation” in American society were largely forged during the nineteenth century, and were heavily shaped by American’s anxieties about urbanization. Contemporary ideas of health promoted an annual evacuation from the city during the summer months for those who could afford it. “An Adirondack Vacation c.1900”-(StorymapJS) As the American middle class grew in the late nineteenth century, average families began to adopt the aristocratic tradition of leaving the cities during the summer months, while poor and immigrant families remained to work. This promoted reformers to create programs to offer vacations to these children. In this blog I will explore two of these programs, the Fresh Air Fund and the Children’s Aid Society’s Summer Home, to discuss what the social practice of childhood vacations reveals about contemporary social inequalities and the construction of an American identity.

From 1850 to 1950 the social practice of vacation primarily manifested itself in children’s lives through the summer break from school. The ideas of how children should be spending this break shifted over time, but consistently affirmed it was to be a time of continued improvement. The following link is to a timeline of the reformist thoughts that shaped the summer break: “The ideas behind Summer Vacation”-(TimeLineJS). In this blog, I additionally aim to explore what the notions of the “ideal” summer vacations reveal about contemporary conceptions of health and morality.

Oliver More
Historical Geography: Mapping Childhoods (GEO/HST 170)
Prof. Meghan Cope
Fall 2017
Part of the Mapping American Childhoods Project

I am a senior at the University of Vermont in the College of Arts and Sciences. I am a history major and a geography minor.