Designing the creative child [electronic resource] : playthings and places in midcentury America / Amy F. Ogata.
Ogata, Amy Fumiko, 1965-
2013
HQ792.U5 O39 2013eb
Available Online

Linked e-resources

Linked Resource Online Access

Details

Title Designing the creative child [electronic resource] : playthings and places in midcentury America / Amy F. Ogata.
Author Ogata, Amy Fumiko, 1965-
ISBN 9780816679607 hardcover
9780816679614 paperback
9781452939247 electronic book
Publication Details Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 2013.
Language English
Description xxii, 293 p., [16] p. of col. plates : ill. (some col.).
Call Number HQ792.U5 O39 2013eb
Dewey Decimal Classification 155.4/13550973
Summary " The postwar American stereotypes of suburban sameness, traditional gender roles, and educational conservatism have masked an alternate self-image tailor-made for the Cold War. The creative child, an idealized future citizen, was the darling of baby boom parents, psychologists, marketers, and designers who saw in the next generation promise that appeared to answer the most pressing worries of the age. Designing the Creative Child reveals how a postwar cult of childhood creativity developed and continues to this day. Exploring how the idea of children as imaginative and naturally creative was constructed, disseminated, and consumed in the United States after World War II, Amy F. Ogata argues that educational toys, playgrounds, small middle-class houses, new schools, and children's museums were designed to cultivate imagination in a growing cohort of baby boom children. Enthusiasm for encouraging creativity in children countered Cold War fears of failing competitiveness and the postwar critique of social conformity, making creativity an emblem of national revitalization. Ogata describes how a historically rooted belief in children's capacity for independent thinking was transformed from an elite concern of the interwar years to a fully consumable and aspirational ideal that persists today. From building blocks to Gumby, playhouses to Playskool trains, Creative Playthings to the Eames House of Cards, Crayola fingerpaint to children's museums, material goods and spaces shaped a popular understanding of creativity, and Designing the Creative Child demonstrates how this notion has been woven into the fabric of American culture. "-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
Series Architecture, landscape, and American culture series
Linked Resources Online Access
Record Appears in Online Resources > Ebooks
All Resources
Machine generated contents note:
Contents
Introduction: Object Lessons
1. Constructing Creativity in Postwar America
2. Educational Toys and Creative Playthings
3. Creative Living at Home
4. Building Creativity in Postwar Schools
5. Learning Imagination in Art and Science
Epilogue: The Legacy of Consuming Creativity
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Browse Subjects

Show more subjects...

Statistics

from
to
Export