What Was Childhood Like In Shakespeare's London?: The London History Show

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Sources and further reading:
Cunningham, H. 2006. The Invention of Childhood.
Emerich, M. 2002. Les prénoms dans la vallée de Thônes du XIVe au XVIIe siècle. Nouvelle revue d'onomastique, 39-40 pp. 125-152
Harris, A. 2016. The Making of an American Girl. Slate Magazine.
Huggett, J. & Mikhaila, N. 2013. The Tudor Child.
Mikhaila, N. & Malcolm-Davies, J. 2006. The Tudor Tailor.
Mortimer, I. 2013. The Time Traveller’s Guide To Elizabethan England.
Orme, N. 2023. Tudor Children.
Scouloudi, I. 1987. The Stranger Community in the Metropolis, 1558-1640. In Huguenots in Britain and their French background, 1550-1800: Contributions to the Historical Conference of the Huguenot Society of London, 24-25 September 1985.
Solly, M. 3 June 2021. The Enduring Nostalgia of American Girl Dolls. Smithsonian Magazine.
Treasure, G. 2013. The Huguenots.

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Music credits:

Requiem in D Minor: Rex Tremendae
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
performed by Papalin

The King of Denmark Galliard, Lachrimae, No. 11
John Dowland
performed by Dr. Philip W. Serna

Sprinkles
by Shane Ivers

Pulsar
by Shane Ivers

Heroic Ballad- Paa Dpvrefjeld I Norge, 25 Norwegian Folk Songs and Dances, Op.17
by Edvard Grieg
performed by Papalin

Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op.30
by Richard Strauss
performed by The_Sea_Four

Joey’s Formal Waltz- Unscented
by Kevin McLeod

Music used under
Creative Commons Attribution licences

00:00 Chapter One: What Are American Girls?
09:02 Chapter Two: What Makes American Girls' American American Girls American Girls?
14:00 Chapter Three: Meet Catherine
34:10 Chapter Four: Catherine Learns A Lesson
42:19 Chapter Five: Catherine's Surprise

[Magic__]

"Im not writing a book." it sounds like something someone who going to make a write a book

[crayonburry]

A good YouTuber caters to an audience, a great YouTuber gets their audience interested in whatever they have to say.

[Werevampiwolf]

There is actually one American Girl doll that doesn't have her mouth open. It's Kaya/Kaya'aton'my, because she's from the Nez Perce tribe, and after consulting with actual Nez Perce people, the people running American Girl found out that smiling while showing teeth is traditionally considered to be rude. She was my favorite American Girl as a child. I only had one of her books but I read it a lot.

[mikaylaeager]

Hello! I’m one of the five people this video was made for!! I loved American Girls growing up! We couldn’t afford any of the doll stuff but I read all the books.

You missed one important thing though. Every American Girl had a Best Friend (TM) who gave them another perspective on the time period. Kristen has Singing Bird, a Native American girl. Samantha had Nellie, a poor girl who worked in a factory. Felicity had Elizabeth, a British Loyalist.

I think Catherine’s friend should be a catholic girl. She could meet her in Catherine Learns a Lesson where she sees that they face the same persecution in England that her family did in France. Then in Catherine Saves the Day she could help them escape persecution in some way.

[elizabethingermann]

One thing that might be worth checking out is Kaya's books. She is the indigenous doll (Nez Pierce specifically). Because she isn't christian, education is not a discrete category from ordinary activities, and birthday traditions are a bit of a question mark, her books break the traditional format a lot. Hers are 1. Meet Kaya 2. Kaya's Escape (in which she is briefly kidnapped during a conflict with another tribe and ends up having to leave her sister behind), 3. Kaya's Hero (in which a woman Kaya looks up to mentors Kaya for a time before dying, an Kaya has to process her grief and whether she feels like she lives up to the gift the woman gave her) 4. Kaya and the Lone Dog (which I never read but involves the birth of puppies) 5. Kaya Shows the Way (in which Kaya goes looking for her sister. it is not a saves the day story because her sister turns out to have joined the other tribe and chooses to stay with them. She doesn't need saving in the end) and 6. Changes for Kaya. It's a much bigger departure than you would necessarily want or need for Catherine, but it does kind of give an indicator of how much you can bend the rules.

So in place of a birthday celebration for Catherine, there could be a new birth in the family. Maybe the baby is a little sickly, so there are worries if Catherine's new sibling will make it (but of course the baby does pull through). If we don't discuss Catherine's deceased siblings in much detail in the first book (beyond the fact she was named for an older sister who died), maybe concerns about the baby's health could spark some deeper conversation on that note. Maybe Catherine gets a bit overwhelmed and runs off, and that's where she finds an injured dog (bear-baiting gets a mention as a possible source of the dog's injuries but the sport is not actually witnessed by Catherine). She is too young to help with her sick sibling, but she can stitch up the dog and practice pleating ruffs by making one for her new pup. Both dog and sibling recover and there is a little family celebration (idk what the position was on infant baptism among huguenots, but maybe we get a bit of that as well). So we have a birthday story and Catherine gets a dog with a ruff, but it stays true to period.

[davidcarter]

As an old bloke in his 60s, I'm surely not the target demographic - but this was just wonderful - that hour just flew by!

[joankasper]

As someone who knew every single thing about American Girl Dolls as a kid and is now a Shakespearean actress…I think I might be the exact niche target audience for this video

[HumDoodle]

So my research is a little shaky, but as far as I'm aware, Liz 1 accepted birthday gifts. Her birthday was in September, so maybe Catherine's father could be commissioned to make an outfit for a courtier attending the Queens' b-day celebration. At the same time, a neighbours dog gives birth to puppies. This gets Catherine talking to her mum and sister about the day she was born her mum mentioned it was round about this time of year, so Catherine puts on her own "birthday like" celebration and as a gift her parents adopt one of the neighbours puppy's. Catherine uses scraps from her fathers commission to create a ruff and waist coat for her puppy named Puck, her favourite midsummer's night's dream character!

[cmrsnowflake]

Ideas for "Birthday" book
- Were saints days a thing?
- Maybe, since we know Catherine was named after a deceased sibling, there's an event that reminds her parents of that and they tell the story of her birth. It would be grimmer than a celebration, allow a sensitive way to explore child mortality and resilience, but still lead to warm fuzzy scenes of familial caring and grateful reflections on Catherine growing up. Maybe they decide to make a special dish that connects with both the sad and happy memories. Maybe they sing a family hymn. Maybe Catherine feels differently about her pesky younger siblings at the end.

Ideas for "Summer" book:
- Would a localized urban catastrophe like a fire or a building collapse or flooding or a smaller contagious outbreak potentially lead the family to temporarily relocate outside the city? Maybe Catherine makes friends with a country girl and compares their lives. Maybe there's something they desperately need to acquire from the city market and Catherine uses all her city-girl skills to help, exploring urban geography, transportation, and the social dynamics of travel through the city.

Overall:
I love it!!!! Why isn't some millionaire rushing to finance the full series ALREADY???

[triciahatch]

Adult American Girl doll collector here. A fair number of the outfits made in the early years of Pleasant Company had period accurate closings and fasteners. Kit’s cardigan and Kirsten’s sweater have little tiny buttons and buttonholes. Felicity’s pinner apron pins to her dress with straight pins. Etc. I find my granddaughters’ little tiny fingers can do these up better than my adult arthritic ones

[DiesIrae]

I'm a guy but grew up with three sisters, so I shared many interests with them. When they started to get American Girl Dolls I decided I wanted one, too, and fortunately my parents were OK with it. I loved all of the historical clothing and accessories and stories, and history is a major passion of mine to this day. I would love to see this type of dolls normalized for all kids: instead of hyper-masculine GI Joe's or hyper-feminine Barbie, just normal kids from different time periods.

[requiembeeblebroxx]

The tiny Calvin's Catechism is absolutely hilarious and I love it

[ashleysharkey]

As an Australian bloke who likes classic cars and works as an engineer, this could not be further from my regular interests. The first scene about your analytics had me chuckling, because I knew going in that this wasn't the video for me.

I've never been so entertained by an hour of someone talking about dolls aimed at 8 year old girls. This was brilliant!

[Aoderic]

As a History teacher, I am amazed how well made these books are. It's the kind of history I like to teach, the story of ordinary people. Not endless list's of Kings nor Wars and Battles.

[bookishbassoonist]

As a Jewish girl growing up in a suburban community with a tiny Jewish population, I adored Rebecca. Especially since she’s a Russian Jew whose family moved to the states around the same time my ancestors did. She looked a lot like me, and some of our experiences with antisemitism were quite similar. She was also a loner nerdy musician who loved her culture and an outspoken person like me. It was amazing to have representation like doll sized Hannukiot (hannukah menorahs) and a character I could relate to so much!

[lizgoeshardt]

"Catherine Saves the Day"

Catherine goes to the countryside to help out a cousin/family acquaintence for the summer. We get some Elizabethan rural life. Then there's an ongoing problem with poachers. Catherine finds out who the poacher is, it's a boy about her age. He's doing it to help his family. She's involved in a thrilling nighttime chase to warn her new friend so he doesn't get caught and then also helps him to realize he shouldn't break the law.

All's well that ends well.

[chazhoosier]

"What better Shakespeare play to celebrate 12th Night than....A Midsummer Night's Dream!" 🤣

[basicallybet]

We were super poor when I was a kid, but we got all of the American Girl books from the library and my mom read them to us before bed. It made me love history. My grandma eventually bought each of us an American Girl doll for our birthdays. She also made each of us clothes for our dolls because the clothes from the catalog were super expensive and the doll alone was an outlandish gift for us. We played with those dolls all the time and they fell down hills and out of trees and into the bath tub and held up incredibly well. We each still have our original dolls even though they’re all around thirty years old. The hair is in bad shape, but other than that, those dolls are perfect.

[markfisher]

In the era of The American Doll, my wife and I were busy helping to outfit our granddaughters' dolls. My wife did dresses and I did a wardrobe (with doll-sized coathangers, natch) and bed. Making doll-sized furniture is fun!

[ninjabakuraHD]

I'm American and I live in England now, and my English husband who watches your videos religiously just HAD to show me this video and I'm so glad I got to experience this precious treat. Thank you SO much. As a kid we could never afford the dolls but my mother somehow got her hands on an assortment of the American Girl books and I loved each and every one of them. You briefly mention Kit in the video and she was my favourite - I believe her first book was introduced in 2000 - she was a spunky tomboy of the Great Depression that I related to so hard. And then, in 2002 American Girl released their 'Girls of Many Lands' series of which I also found all the books at my local library. These were the best treat as they were a little more aged-up (around 12?) and showed more peril, more direct impact of historical issues, and were a bit less wholesome and idealistic but still featured our young heroine saving the day or making adults see the errors of their ways. They also explored deeper topics like female literacy, the Opium occupation, English occupation of India, etc. Now looking at the American Girl website I can see that they've introduced a new doll, Rebecca Rubin, from 1914, whom I would have been OBSESSED with as a child had she existed, because she represents a lost part of American Judaism which early American Girl stories had not yet explored for whatever reason - and it would have meant I could have seen myself represented too. J Draper, I'm so glad you made this video, I am 100% the niche target audience, and this brought me right back to getting lost in these stories of girls with a good heart and a sense of fun. Thank you!!!