Summary

Game name (and type): 'Blind Man's Buff' (games with colours)
Alternative types: chasing games, guessing games, party games

Handwritten description of the blindfold game 'Blind Man's Buff' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Jeanette McDonald, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. McDonald describes 'Blind Man's Buff' as a game often played at parties or at home. She notes that any number of children can play, but usually four or five participate. To play, a rag or hanky is used to blindfold 'he', the chaser. McDonald explains that 'he' attempts to chase the other players, swapping roles with those he captures.

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 borders ruled in red pencil; text printed on one side only.

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