Contents
Introduction: Object Lessons
1. Constructing Creativity in Postwar America
2. Educational Toys and Creative Playthings
3. Creative Living at Home
4. Building Creativity in Postwar Schools
5. Learning Imagination in Art and Science
Epilogue: The Legacy of Consuming Creativity
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Amy F. Ogata is associate professor at the Bard Graduate Center:
Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture in New York City.
She is the author of Art Nouveau and the Social Vision of Modern
Living and has published widely on modern architecture and
design.
"At a time when the news media is again concerned about a crisis in
American creativity, schools are cutting funding for arts
education, major foundations are modeling ways that students and
teachers might ‘play’ with new media, and museums worry about
declining youth attendance, Designing the Creative Child makes an
important intervention, reminding us that these debates build upon
a much longer history of efforts to support and enhance the
creative development of American youth. I admire this fascinating,
multidisciplinary account which couples close attention to the
design of everyday cultural materials with an awareness of the
debates in educational theory, public policy, children’s
literature, and abstract art which informed them." —Henry
Jenkins, Editor, The Children's Culture Reader
"Amy Ogata’s Designing the Creative Child is an exceptionally
interesting book on the development of both child psychology and
playthings in America during the baby boom years following World
War II. A delightfully educational book."—Life Long Dewey
(blog)"Amy Ogata . . . argues that American worries about
conformity—as well as the nation’s Cold War rivalry with the
totalitarian Soviet Union—persuaded parents that their children’s
creative impulses could, and should, be encouraged."—Boston
Globe"This well-researched and clearly written history of the
responses of designers and architects to advice from psychologists
on ways to encourage creativity in young children in Cold War
America is a welcome addition to cultural history, architectural
and design history, the study of material culture, and child
psychology. [Ogata’s] broad knowledge of art and architecture
contributes to the success of her foray into the history of toys,
playrooms, playgrounds, schoolrooms, and children’s
museums."—Journal of American History"An insightful investigation
into the development and marketing of objects and spaces for
children aimed at satisfying parental desires to promote creativity
in the children of mid-century America."—Art Libraries Society of
North America"Featuring extensive illustrations of toy
advertisements, product designs, and blueprints, this highly
informative book has an extensive bibliography and
notes."—CHOICE"Designing the Creative Child is a valuable and
inspiring resource for scholars and professionals in child related
research."—The Architect’s Newspaper"Ogata’s book is well
researched, well written, and beautifully illustrated—and truly
innovative in its depiction of how a generation of toy designers,
architects, and museum curators gave shape to their faith in
youthful creativity."—American Journal of Play"Lucid and engaging,
Ogata’s assiduously researched study sheds a much-needed light on
its origins and development and contributes significantly to our
understanding of everyday design in the dynamics of postwar
cultural change."—Buildings & Landscapes"Ogata brings her research
together in an exciting way by examining childhood creativity as an
idealized attribute developed in the multi-faceted dimensionality
of material culture—from television programming and toy design to
suburan homes, school buildings and museum exhibition design. The
book is richly illustrated and is in conversation with other
multi-disciplinary books that address aspects of the post-war era,
consumerism, architecture, suburbia and school design."—Journal of
Design History"This study offers us innovative ways of
understanding efforts to shape childhood that we might consider
adopting more fully."—Journal of the History of Childhood and
Youth"A tight, timely study."—Art Review"An important
contribution."—Winterthur Portfolio"Beautifully illustrated and
superbly written."—Daniella On Design
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