Item HT 41257 Document - Wendy Daniel, to Dorothy Howard, Description of Circle Game 'Drop the Hanky', 25 Mar 1955

Summary

Game name (and type): 'Drop the Hanky' (circle game)
Alternative type: running games

Handwritten description of the circle game 'Drop the Hanky' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Wendy Daniel, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. To play 'Drop the Hanky', Daniel writes that a handkerchief and a grassy area are required. Players form a circle as one child runs around the outside, dropping the handkerchief behind one of the children. The child, behind whom the handkerchief has been placed, must race the runner back to vacated position in the opposite direction. If the chaser fails to reach the position first, Daniel states they must stand in the centre of the ring as a 'plum pudding'.

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 description in pencil on lined paper. Features annotations and borders ruled in red pencil; text printed on one side only.