Like much of early modern Europe, France saw increasing numbers of abandoned children, and new institutions designed to care for them. Orphanage records are one of a few rare types of sources available for historians to chart the histories of the… [more]

Katsu Kokichi (1802–1850), a middle- to lower-ranking samurai without distinction, nevertheless wrote his life story, supposedly to warn his children against his own disgraceful behavior. Yet, he brags of his mischief and rebelliousness, while… [more]

The pioneering collection of fairy tales published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the first half of the 19th century reflects both the romantic interest in the national past—that is, in the cultural origins and "childhood" of the German people—and… [more]

The official records and reports of social welfare agencies and institutions provide insight into societal beliefs and attitudes related to deviance and changes in those beliefs and attitudes over time. While review of such documents may in some… [more]

This case study uses reports from an institution that housed some children with disabilities and helps students understand children's experience of disability over time, giving the institutional perspective on how such children were classified and how attitudes toward disabilities might have influenced how society dealt with them during the period. echo [more]

Folktales and fairy tales are resources for dealing with historical topics related to children and youth, and because 19th-century European editors, writers, and pedagogues presented folktales and fairy tales for the moral and cultural education of children, they also reveal how children and childhood were perceived by the societies that produced them, helping to examine the construction of childhood and the experiences of children from a socio-historical perspective. echo [more]

This module examines the founding principles of Robert Baden-Powell's Boy Scout movement in terms of its vision for decreasing social tensions and fostering adherence to generationally transmitted values; the module illustrates the complexities of the Scouting movement among African youth living under European colonial rule.

This module examines the impact of colonization on childhood experiences in New Zealand’s bicultural society of indigenous Maori and mostly European Pakeha between the first encounter in the 18th century to the 20th century, including issues of language, child labor and schooling as well as changing values concerning family structure, identity, and social policy. [more]

In this excerpt, an adult Horeta Te Taniwha recounts childhood memories of a cultural encounter with Europeans for a Pakeha researcher. Te Taniwha, as an indigenous child of Aotearoa/New Zealand, participated in one of the first meetings between… [more]