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States of Childhood: From the Junior Republic to the American Republic, 1895-1945

Jennifer S. Light

Culture, humanities & social science

States of Childhood: From the Junior Republic to the American Republic, 1895-1945

By Jennifer S. Light, the Bern Dibner Professor of the History of Science and Technology in the MIT Program in Science, Technology, and Society

MIT Press · 2020

Across the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century, simulated cities, states, and nations sprang up in which children played legislators, police officers, bankers, shopkeepers, and other adults. They passed laws, grew food, and constructed buildings, among other tasks, inside virtual worlds. Light examines these "junior republics" and argues that they marked the transition to a new kind of "sheltered" childhood for American youth.

From Summer 2021 recommended reading from MIT (MIT News). Cover image via Google Books.