Ideas for Inquiry: "Exhibiting Children"

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Simon J. Bronner

Abstract

Think about it—while scholars of children's folklore typically report the identification, collection, organization, and interpretation of children's traditions, they also must be aware of the variety of ways that this material is adapted, displayed, even misrepresented, in museums, publications, festivals, web sites, community centers, and classrooms. What are the images of tradition projected of children and childhood in various media? The Children's Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society sponsored a special forum to take up this provocative theme of "exhibiting children" at the 2002 annual meeting in Rochester, New York. Conference attendees had the opportunity before the forum to visit the Margaret Strong Museum (including the National Toy Hall of Fame), renowned for its children's material culture collections (see http://www.strongmuseum.org). The opening ceremony of the conference was held in the museum. Recognizing dis-cussions of the visual representation and cultural construction of childhood in various disciplines, Children's Folklore Section leaders C. W. Sullivan III and JoAnn Conrad working with Robert Baron of the New York State Council on the Arts organized the forum as a way to bring this issue to a wider audience of folklorists and museum professionals.

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