Links to materials related to historical geographies of American childhood (links open in new tabs)

• The one-room schoolhouses of Norwich, Vermont (video, 33 min.) https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/everyones-history/back-to-school/
• Carlisle Indian School, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. (digital archives, publications, photos, and ephemera about Native children forced into this Pennsylvania boarding school; also includes downloadable teacher kits) http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/

Primary source material (including older academic work, children’s literature, and gov’t reports):

• How do you play “mumble peg” or “William my tremble-toe”? This survey of children’s “plays” (games, creative play) in South Carolina from 1900 catalogs what children played and, toward the end of the article – provides rules by which to play them. May require sign-in. McGhee, Z. 1900. A Study in the Play Life of Some South Carolina Children, Pedagogical Seminary, 7, pp. 459-478. Accessed from Hathi Trust:  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015024482609;view=1up;seq=475
• The Historical Statistics of the United States is a very helpful resource for quantitative data on families, housing, consumption, etc. from the 1800s onward. You can download data, make charts and tables, etc. Try searching keywords such as “children” for interesting results. May require institutional subscription. https://hsus.cambridge.org/HSUSWeb/HSUSEntryServlet
• Old Wooden Toys – pages and pages of scanned catalogs of toys and children’s products from various companies. http://www.oldwoodtoys.com/toy_catalogs.htm
• Hathi Trust has amazing materials — many students and scholars have full access through their libraries, but free access is quite good too. https://www.hathitrust.org/
• A study of dolls, by G. Stanley Hall and A. Caswell Ellis. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89088255393;view=1up;seq=3
• The Brownies’ Book – a children’s magazine for African-American children published by W.E.B. DuBois in the early 1920s. Available through the Library of Congress:  https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2004ser01351/