Children in the house : the material culture of early childhood, 1600-1900 /

For all who write on American childhood, a central problem remains: the researcher must infer the actual experiences of real children from ambiguous evidence, and the evidence available is frequently richest for the offspring of the dominant classes. Calvert works back from material culture (clothes, furniture, toys, etc.) to psychological and social theory. She thereby avoids the reductionist traps of, for example, Freudian psychohistorians. She has collected much useful information. Her historical framework ("inchoate adults" to 1750, "natural" creatures to 1830, and "innocent" nestlings to 1900), however, does not carefully reflect the wide diversity of childhood experiences and suggests but does not explain a progressive development in adult attitudes. Read in conjunction with Philip Greven's The Protestant Temperament (CH, Jul'78), Bernard Mergen's Play and Playthings: A Reference Guide (CH, Sep'83), and American Childhood: A Research Guide and Historical Handbook, ed. by J.M. Hawes and N.R. Hiner (CH, May'86), this book adds nicely to the growing bibliography of the field. All levels. R. B. Lyman Jr.; Simmons College