An Investigation into the Play of Children Living in a Traditionally Working Class Area of Back-to-Back Housing Property, in Leeds, in May and June, 1962
Description
A study of schoolchildren at play in Leeds, combining researches in education and folk life by two postgraduate students at the University of Leeds. Mrs. Collins was taking a Diploma in Curricular Studies course in the Institute of Education, and Donald McKelvie was taking an M.A. in postgraduate research in the Institute of Dialect and Folk Life Studies. Fieldwork and the collection of data, undertaken at Burley Road Primary School, involved the children answering a short written questionnaire, talking and writing about games and rhymes in small groups, the observation of the children at play in the school playground, asking the children to draw pictures on the theme of play, the tape recording of some singing games, photographing and filming the children at play, talks with teachers, and meeting parents at an Open Evening. The study comprises seven sections. The first, introductory section, describes the school and the area in which it is situated, the composition of the groups studied, and the fieldwork methods employed. The second section records where the children play, and the third section contains descriptions and examples of what the children play, with sections on dipping and skipping, clapping and finger games, ball games, wall games and chasing games, and some singing games. Section four considers the influence of television on the children's games. The fifth section looks at the vocabulary of play, followed by children's drawings of themselves at play (including photographic copies of drawings, with typed descriptions on the reverse). The final section offers some general conclusions. The main body of the study is accompanied by copies of correspondence from 'The Guardian' newspaper (1960 and 1962), concerning children's games (in particular, the rhyme 'Rosy Apple, Mellow Pear'), typed notes on the study by Mrs. Collins, for the attention of Stewart Sanderson (undated), and black and white negatives and corresponding contact prints of children at play at Burley Road Primary School (taken by Donald McKelvie). The negatives were originally held loose in a small white envelope. All but two of the contact prints are affixed to sheets of paper, with typed captions (name of the game, words of the rhyme). Reference is made in the Foreword to a tape recording of two singing games ( 'I Come to See Janey' and 'Rosy Apple, Mellow Pear'), and a film (in preparation) of children's personal activities, to be made by Mr. McKelvie from material photographed at Burley Road and at Bradford. Neither of these items have been traced in the LAVC.
Metadata
| Identifier | zltfz13m |
| IRN | 410376 |
| Class Mark | LAVC/SRP/3/1/001 |
| Level | File |
| Type of Record | Archives - ISAD(G) |
| Peristent Link | http://prototype1.library.leeds.ac.uk/zltfz13m |
| Collection(s) | Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture |
| Category | Archive |
| Parent Record | Folklore Surveys |
| Creator(s) | Collins, J M Mrs, McKelvie, Donald |
| Date | 1962 |
| Size and Medium | 41, [7] unbound typed leaves., B/w negatives, b/w contact prints, 1 x 3.5cm b/w contact prints |