Summary

Game names (and type): 'Blind Man's Buff' (blindfold game), 'Hide and Seek' (hiding game)
Alternative types: running games

Handwritten descriptions of the blindfold game 'Blind Man's Buff' and the hiding game 'Hide and Seek' composed for Dr Dorothy Howard by Jennifer Callister, a thirteen year old student at East Camberwell Girls Secondary School, in 1954-1955. Callister describes 'Hide and Seek' and 'Blind Man's Buff' as games which can be played by children aged seven years and upward all year round usually in a well vegetated area or backyard. She lists other players of these games including Dianne Callister, Judith Amos, Carole Campbell and Dawn Duffy. To play 'Blind Man's Buff', Callister writes that a blindfolded child counts to fifty before trying to locate the other players, who are moving noiselessly around them. She explains that if the blindfolded child must correctly identifies a player, the two children exchange roles. To play 'Hide and Seek', Callister states that a child counts to one hundred while the other players hide amongst the vegetation. The child begins their search for the hidden players, who are attempting to reach the 'home base' unseen. Callister notes that if the child suspects that they are approaching a hidden player, they recite the following 'The monkey is alert'.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's game 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 blue ink on paper. Comprises two sheets. First page features a letterhead printed in black ink; second page features borders ruled in red ink.

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