These two images from the Later Han dynasty (2nd century CE) depict the most famous child in early Chinese literature, Xiang Tuo (pronounced She-Ang Too-o). In both stone carvings, which decorated the outer walls of shrines or funerary monuments, the… [more]

This illustration depicts a scene from the Traditions of Exemplary Women (Lienü zhuan) of Liu Xiang (ca. 77-6 BCE), one of China's first didactic texts on feminine morality. The text to this story is provided below the illustration. The story… [more]

The primary sources in this module lay out the historical conditions that made children important topics of intellectual engagement during Han times and explore themes such as nature vs nurture, separation of the sexes and gender differentiation, the concept of the child as an embodiment of cosmic process and heavenly order, and issues surrounding the status of the child in the family, the state and gerontocratic Chinese culture. [more]

Daguerreotypes were the first commercially viable photographic process. Developed by French chemist Louis Daguerre in 1839, the technique quickly made its way to the US in the 1840s, the beginning of what some historians characterize as the "golden… [more]

Little Women is one of the most beloved works of American literature. Widely translated and read throughout the world, Alcott's story has inspired films, television programs, cartoons, dolls, and theatrical productions, as well as extensive critical… [more]

Health and sickness, as it pertains to children and youth in Early Modern England, is examined through an array of primary sources that illuminate both the perils of childhood in that age and the measures taken for the care of the ill and the emotional investment of families in caring for them.

Born in present-day Ghana, young Ottobah Cugoano was kidnapped and sold into slavery at the young age of 13. Cugoano worked in the sugar fields of a Grenadan plantation until 1773. That year, Cugoano traveled to England with his owner where he… [more]