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Children’s Leisure Activities in Russia, 1920s-1940s

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Advisors: Professor Vitaly Bezrogov, Moscow
Professor Catriona Kelly, Oxford
Material from K.D. Ushinski State Scientific Pedagogical Library, Moscow
National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg

The material gathered here offers a unique insight into one of the most important and characteristic areas of socializing the young in early Soviet Russia, and a window into the mentality of the ‘first Soviet generations’ as well. Play was used, as methodological guides for nursery-school teachers indicate, in order to inculcate ‘politically correct’ attitudes.
The collection gives a representative overview of the different trends in children leisure activities and games and runs chronologically from 1917 to the late 1930s. It includes books published in the provinces as well as in Moscow and Leningrad, and offers a spread of material covering different age groups, from pre-schoolers to pre-teens. Many of the items included are now extremely rare. The collection contains material on children’s games and other leisure activities, the New Year and other holidays, theater, radio and cinema.

Part of the IDC series Mass Culture and Entertainment in Russia.

Number of titles270
Priceupon request


MARC21 records available
Children’s Leisure Activities in Russia, 1920s-1940s