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[PUBLISHING FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH] Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo “Okhrana materinstva i mladenchestva”. Katalog izdanii #3 [i.e. The State Publishing House “Protection of Motherhood and Infancy”. Catalog of Editions No. 3]

Item #2788

Moscow: Knizhnaia fabrika Izdatel’stva Narodov SSSR, 1928. 55 pp.: ill. 23x15 cm. In original wrappers with geometrical pattern. Spine restored, uncut copy.

Showcasing books, periodicals, and posters of the 1920s, this early Soviet catalog highlights publications aimed at teaching the masses about women’s and children’s health, hygiene, and the fundamentals of parenting. The edition reproduces photos of 35 books, 6 posters and 1 cover design for a sewing pattern set.

Amid the devastation of the Civil War and its aftermath, the Soviet healthcare system was created practically from scratch. The Department for the Protection of Maternity and Infancy was established within the RSFSR People's Commissariat for Health, under which a Commission for Assistance on these matters was formed. The Commission’s staff emphasized the importance of involving the population in active sanitary education work by providing lectures, exhibitions, and printed editions, as well as carrying out educational work among mothers through clubs, lectures, and courses. Starting in 1920, the "Child's Week" campaign was held, during which numerous relevant articles were published in large newspapers, and lecture series were given by well-known physicians and scholars.

The Department for the Protection of Maternity and Infancy controlled the emergence and functioning of a system of antenatal clinics, hospitals, kindergartens, and dairy kitchens. Antenatal clinics played a key role in reducing maternal and infant mortality. It was recommended that clinics also organize special exhibitions on infant care and distribute brochures and leaflets on childcare and infant feeding. Due to low attendance at these clinics in the 1920s – caused by women's lack of understanding of their purpose – a system of home-based care for pregnant women and children was introduced in cities. Visits prioritized women with limited literacy, first-time mothers, and those with high-risk pregnancies. Visiting nurses also taught mothers how to care for their infants and provided necessary childcare items.

Mothers were to be educated through local public education authorities and the so-called women's departments (zhenotdely). The main forms of work included discussions, live newspaper performances, and courtroom dramatizations. Physicians were brought in to give lectures on topics such as the physiological processes of the female body, hygiene during pregnancy and childbirth, the postpartum period, and abortions.

In 1920 the state publishing house “Protection of Motherhood and Infancy” was established by the director of the Central Institute for Protection of Motherhood and Infancy, Vera Lebedeva (1881–1968) and pediatrician Georgy Speransky (1873–1969). The publishing house released scientific and mass books, posters, sewing patterns separately and two magazines “Protection of Motherhood and Infancy” for obstetricians and nurses and “Journal for the Study of Early Childhood” for doctors and medical students. The catalog includes the publishing statistics for 1925–1927.

According to this annotated catalog, topics of the 1920s printed editions ranged from more general subjects such as contraceptives, birth infections, the physiology of premature infants, breastfeeding, nurseries, women's diseases, prostitution, miscarriage, etc., to more specialized ones like intestinal flora in infancy, sunbathing in early childhood, metabolism and the problem of hematopoiesis, vision problems in infants, children’s clothing, child speech and so on.

The catalog also included a list of 12 sets of glass slides and a list of models (anatomical and not) for exhibitions on maternal and child health and sanitary education.

Not found in Worldcat.

Price: $850.00