Summary

Game names (and types): 'Poor Pussy' (elimination game), 'Bedlam' (chasing game)
Alternative type: running game

Handwritten descriptions of the elimination game 'Poor Pussy' and the chasing game 'Bedlam' composed for Dr Dorothy Howard by Margot Kelly, a student at Clayfield College, in October 1954. Kelly describes 'Poor Pussy' as a popular party game, which involves one child trying to make the other players laugh. The last player to resist laughing wins the game. She also describes 'Bedlam', which involves two teams. Kelly writes that one team chases the opposing group. Captured players are taken 'home', but can be freed by their team members.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's games written to children's Folklorist Dorothy Howard between 1954 and 1955. Dr Howard came to Australia in 1954-55 as an American Fulbright scholar to study Australian children's folklore. She travelled across Australia for 10 months collecting children's playground rhymes, games, play artefacts, etc. This letter, together with the other original fieldwork collected by Dr Howard during this period, is preserved in the Dorothy Howard Collection manuscript files, part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), Archive Series 3. The ACFC is an extensive collection documenting children's folklore and related research.

Physical Description

Handwritten game descriptions in blue ink on lined paper. Text printed on both sides of page.

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