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[NURSERIES] Letnie sel’skie iasli na Ukraine [i.e. Summer Village Nurseries in Ukraine]

Item #2275

Khar’kiv: Izd. Otdela Okhrany Materinstva i Detstva NKZdrava USSR, 1925. 60 pp.: : ill., 1 folding table. 25,5x17 cm. In original printed wrappers. Small fragments of spine and front cover lost, covers faded, otherwise very good and clean pages.

One of 3000 copies. In Russian. This early Soviet collection contains articles related to summer temporary nurseries in Ukrainian villages. It is a valuable source on pre- and post-revolutionary daycare facilities for children.
According to the article by L. Lubenskaia and M. Gimmelfarb, similar enterprises were recorded in the Russian Empire. They published the statistics on different provinces in 1896-1905. The earliest nursery was founded in the Perm governorate in 1896. Over time nurseries were opened and closed occasionally. They entirely depended on local organs of self-government. In particular, the table includes the data on Kharkiv, Yekaterinoslav and Poltava regions. World War I influenced such nurseries a lot: peasant women were responsible for all agricultural works. The All-Russian Guardianship of Motherhood and Infancy was founded in 1914 and about 500 nurseries existed up to 1916. The authors analyze who led nurseries (provincial teachers, priests’ wives and daughters, et al.) and what they were opened for. Most frequently, nurseries were considered children’s canteens. Number of children in one institution wasn’t limited and could be around 200. Their age varied greatly: from babies to 10-year-old children. The authors elaborate on nursery budget, employees, placement, conditions, education, etc.
The Soviet campaign organizing summer nurseries for peasants was launched after the Civil war was over. For 5 years, the number was increased from 46 to 426. The author of “Summer Nursery Campaign of 1925”, E. Feder writes that the military actions boosted the number of single parents, so the percentage of women among Ukrainian peasant workers was higher than of men. To involve women in social and labor activities all year round, Soviet authorities spread daycare and education institutions and gradually extended the work period. A rural nursery was turned into one of the village centers caring for motherhood and infancy and providing socialist ideology among women. One of the main issues of the 1925 campaign was children’s age. Rural nurseries practically didn’t accept children under 1 year old during previous years. The reduction in age required specialized training of staff and medical presence, to avoid infant mortality. During the previous years, 40 percent of children in nurseries were 4-6 years old and 8 percent were older than 6. When bringing the baby to the nursery, the peasant woman didn’t leave an older child alone at home. Similar tendency was in some rural kindergartens: children of the proper age came with their younger siblings.
The article “Hygienic Tasks of Summer Village Nurseries” by O. Shapiro includes recommendations about premises, equipment, furniture, linen, dishes, daily schedule, walk distances for various ages, children’s personal hygiene, nutrition, healthcare, etc. It is particularly interesting that the author publishes a children’s menu for 4 days that includes coffee with milk every day. Later, coffee was banned in kindergartens and especially in nurseries.
Along with permanent nurseries, movable stations of daycare for babies were set up in collective farms. Tents with cradles were placed next to agricultural fields, and physicians took care of babies between breastfeeding sessions. Instructions on organization of movable nurseries are given and illustrated with a photo of such a tent in Cherkasy region (Ukraine).
The book provides financial estimates for the maintenance of mobile and permanent nurseries (food, business expenses, salaries), lists of furniture, dishes, linen, medicines, samplers of registration card, nurse cards for doctor's prescriptions and other documents needed.

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