Course:LIBR548F/2010WT1/The History of Reading-Child Readers

The history of reading will have to take account of the ways that texts

constrain readers as well as the ways that readers take liberties with texts.

—Robert Darnton, "What Is the History of Books?"

The History of Reading: The Barriers to Studying Children as Readers 1890-1930

The subject of the History of Child Readers is an interdisciplinary one; an intersection of two areas of study: the History of Reading and the History of Childhood. Both are relatively new fields.

The History of Reading

The act of reading does not leave a trace. The interactions with text, experienced by historical readers, are challenging to gain access to. In 1990 Robert Darnton’s book The Kiss of Lamourette included a chapter called “First Steps Toward a History of Reading” which is an illuminating source on the subject. Darnton outlines many of the sources from which information about the history of reading can be recovered. The chapter also offers some illuminations and examples of what other historians have discovered on the subject.

For more information on the History of Reading see SHARP: Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing.

The History of Childhood

The modern notion of childhood is often credited to Jean Jacques Rousseau. It was Philippe Ariés in Centuries of Childhood (1962) who argued that the notion of childhood is a relatively recent social construction. Previous to the 17th century children were seen at mini-adults. Interest in the study of the History of Childhood has steadily increased since the early 1960s. Another key and controversial book on the subject is The History of Childhood by Lloyd DeMause. He argues that the further back in time one looks the more massive the neglect and cruelty toward children is.

Scholarly journals dealing with the History of Childhood include History of childhood quarterly (1973-1976), Journal of Family History (1976-present), and Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth (2008-present).

Children as Readers (1890-1930)

It was not until the eighteenth century that childhood was recognized as a properly defined stage of life. Therefore, it was not until this time that much attention was given to what children and young adults were reading as a separate market need. It was not until the end of the 19th century, between 1890 and 1930 children’s publishing and children’s librarianship were firmly established in the U.S.A.

Children’s librarians took their burgeoning career seriously. For many years librarians were respected sources for knowledge about children’s literature and actively sought input from children and published their findings. With the increased interest in childhood surveying children was practiced in many fields. A 1930s survey published by the Journal of Social Hygiene found that reading was the favourite recreational activity of both girls and boys in Brooklyn.

Child readers are commonly left out of histories of reading. Including them often requires sorting through layers of adult mediation to find the “children’s voices” from the past.

If you are interested in learning more about the history of child readers check out this short wiki article:Child Readers in Europe before 1890

Barriers unique to studying the History of Children as Readers

Reader’s accounts of their experience of reading are much easier to come by written by adults. Accounts of the child experience written by children are harder to find. The experience of the reading poor is even more difficult to gain access to. During the latter part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th librarians, education researchers (psychologists), and teachers administered various surveys about children’s reading habits. The information on these surveys was intended to improve education and encourage good reading habits but can offer (a highly mediated) views into child reading habits of the time. Sadly for the purposes of those who study child reading, the data was not collected systematically.

Much of what exists about child history is narrated by adults and not children. This is no different with the history of child readers. Adult perceptions dominate available texts. Even adults writing about their own childhood tend to romanticize what it was to be a child, looking back with nostalgia.

The diaries of children are few. Those left for study cannot be wholly trusted and free from adult influence.

One of the surveys designed by a teacher asked if reading in secret was a common practice. Forty percent of the respondents left the question blank (perhaps fearing a trap) while the other 60 percent responded in the affirmative. If hiding their reading is a part of child reader culture data collected in official surveys may only be partial at best. Certainly answers are mediated by power relations between adults and children.

It is also a fact of the industry that children have little or no influence over what gets published for them. This is changing with the advent of the internet and especially web 2.0; but still the input of children is hardly ever given more weight than adults.

Still a topic of debate among child literature scholars is whether adults can or should make it their role to interpret the voices of child readers.

Sources

---

Darnton, Robert. "First Steps Toward a History of Reading." The Kiss of Lamourette. (1991): 154. 187.

Lyons, Martyn. “New Readers in the Nineteenth Century: Women, Children, Workers.” Edited by Cavallo, Guglielmo and Roger Chartier. A History of Reading in the West. (1999). 313-344.

McDowell, Kathleen. “Toward a History of Children as Readers, 1890-1930.” Book History 12 (2009): 240-265.

Wittmann, Reinhard. “Was there a Reading Revolution at the End of the Eighteenth Century?” Edited by Cavallo, Guglielmo and Roger Chartier. A History of Reading in the West. (1999). 284-312.