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Australian Children's Folklore Collection
Image: String Game
Source: Museum Victoria
The Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC) is one of the largest and most significant archives of its kind in the world, reflecting Australia's cultural and regional diversity. It is the first Museum Victoria collection and one of the first collections in Australia to have been recognized through listing on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register. It documents children's verbal folkloric traditions from the 1870s to the present. It includes more than 10,000 card files and over 1,000 pages of letters recording children's games, rhymes, riddles, jokes, superstitions, taunts and chants; over 300 traditional and homemade play artefacts; photographs and audiovisual material; and field and research studies.
The ACFC germinated with research in the 1970s and 1980s by Dr June Factor (then an academic at the Institute of Early Childhood Development) and Dr Gwenda Davey. Armed with pad and pencil, tape recorder and camera, they conducted field research to document Australian children's play. As their research progressed they gradually acquired other material, both contemporary and historic. The Australian Children's Folklore Collection was formally established in 1979. Dr Factor was invited to join the founding members of the Australian Centre at The University of Melbourne in May 1989 as a Senior Research Fellow. She brought the Australian Children's Folklore Collection with her to the Centre, and agreed to have it housed for a period in the University of Melbourne Archives. In 1999 she donated the Collection to Museum Victoria.
A unique aspect of the ACFC is the Australian archive of pioneering American scholar, educator and ethnographer Dr Dorothy Howard. From 1954 to 1955, Howard travelled across Australia, collecting and documenting children's games and verbal lore in cities, country towns and small rural communities. It was the first large-scale attempt to collect, analyse and discuss our children's lore and language, and it laid the foundations for research into children's folklore in this country.
The Australian Children's Folklore Collection brings to Museum Victoria a direct and personal voice from children at play.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 51 - 60) 150 items
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Banner - A World of Games, 1997
Alternative Name(s): Games Panel Calico banner, coloured, with hand-drawn graphics and text, depicting the games of marbles, up ball and knucklebones. This banner, and SH 99.329 and ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Spinner - Wood, 1997
Alternative Name(s): Colour disc Made: Whalley, Doug, 1997 Used: 1997 Hand-made by Doug Whalley for the Springvale Historical Society's 'World of Games' exhibition, 1997. Donated by Dou ...
From: Springvale, Australia Images: 0 -
Jacks - Japanese, Otedama, Fabric, late 1980s
Alternative Name(s): Japanese Jacks, O-Tedama Set of six fabric jacks, called 'otedama' in Japanese. They were made by the donor's mother in Japan in the late 1980s. Such toys were pla ...
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Bag - for Marbles, Green Cloth
Group of marbles in green bag which forms part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC). The ACFC is unique in Australia, documenting contemporary children's folklore ac ...
Images: 1 -
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Banner - A World of Games, India, 1997
Alternative Name(s): Games Panel Calico banner, hand-decorated with graphics, text and applique, depicting Indian games. This banner, and SH 99.328 and SH 99.329, were made for the ' ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Tin Rollers - John 'Sandy' Atkinson, 1988
Made and donated by John 'Sandy' Atkinson, 1988. This object is part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection. The ACFC is unique in Australia, documenting contemporary childre ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Bag of Marbles - Yellow Cloth, Multi-coloured Glass Marbles
Group of multicoloured marbles in a yellow bag which forms part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC). The ACFC is unique in Australia, documenting contemporary childr ...
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Spinning Top - Japanese, Koma, Wood
This traditional wooden spinning top with red concentric circles is called a 'koma' in Japanese. It was purchased by the donor in Japan in the late 1980s. Such toys were played with by ...
Images: 1 -
Spinning Top - Japanese, Koma, Wood
This traditional wooden spinning top with unpainted circular grooves is called a 'koma' in Japanese. It was purchased by the donor in Japan in the late 1980s. Such toys were played with ...
Images: 1 -
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Diabolo - Wooden
Simple wooden toy which forms part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC). The ACFC is unique in Australia, documenting contemporary children's folklore across Austral ...
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