The play movement in the United States; a study of community recreation

Front matter

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I'UKSKNIEU B^i'

THE PLAY MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

Preface

Every period of social advance has been accompanied by the spirit of play. The contemporary generation in our own country is no exception to that rule. Industrial developments, immigration, the growth of the democratic spirit in education and in economics as well as in government have not characterized the present age more than have amateur sports, commercialized amusements, and socialized art. Eighty thousand people have witnessed a single football contest, ninety thousand a prize fight, while baseball has become "the American game" and athletics a recognized feature of both high school and college life. Few cities are now without municipal bands, orchestras, or auditoriums, as well as swimming pools and public golf links. The municipal pier of Chicago extends into the lake three-quarters of a mile and terminates in a magnificent auditorium seating five thousand and dedicated to amateur dramatic and musical expression. Transcontinental automobile routes outnumber the railroads, the motion picture industry is fifth in the United States, while it is estimated that the population of our second largest city alone expends two hundred fifty million dollars annually in leisure-time pursuits. Festivals, pageants, tournaments, fairs, and expositions vi PREFACE

have also engaged their thousands of participants as well as hundreds of thousands of spectators. The pageant and masque of St. Louis^ given in 1914, involved seven thousand actors and one hundred twenty-five thousand spectators at each performance. These events suggest many more, among which, and involving in some instances either their creation or incorporation, may be mentioned ''the play movement," also known as the playground and recreation movement.

This volume is an analysis of the play movement in the United States. It is the first attempt to produce a complete and authentic report of the structure and concept of function of that movement. It comprises more than a description of sand gardens or playgrounds for children, since the term "play" is used to embrace most of the activities occurring in social and community centers, in community music, drama, and pageantry, and in community service and organization. This study, moreover, is not merely a composite of the statements of previous writers on the play movement, but an attempt to reconstruct a view of the events in question based upon primary rather than secondary sources, such as pictures, programs, published reports, and personal experiences and observations of the present writer. The sections containing the greatest contribution to a knowledge of the subject, as well as being of the most significance to

PREFACE vii

both the practical administrator and the general reader, are doubtless those on the "stages" and the ** transitions." Those chapters define the present structure and concept of function by the aid of a comparison of contemporary methods with those pursued in previous periods of its development. It will be seen, upon examination of those portions of the text, that an elaborate technique containing many interesting mechanisms has evolved. This technique is the structure and the concept of the function of the play movement in the United States today. It may be fully understood only by a knowledge of how it came to be.

Among those who have helped materially to gain access to the sources of information, especially concerning the origin and earlier stages of the movement, are Miss Ellen M. Tower, of Lexington, Mass., who loaned me pictures and other valuable material, and the Library of the City of Boston which loaned rare copies of annual reports of societies conducting playgrounds.

For a decade the present writer was actively engaged in the work of administering play, being director of Hamilton Park Eecreation Center, South Park System, Chicago, from 1910 to 1917, and in teaching normal classes in play and recreational administration since 1913, in the University of Chicago, the American College of Physical Education, the University of Southern California, and others. In these associations he has been viii PREFACE

permitted to make many observations and test many suggestions in the laboratory of practical experience on the field and in the class room. It is hoped that this volume may serve as a textbook in normal classes, a book of reference to the general reader, and a guide to the practical director of play. It has been ten years in the making, and is the first of a series now in preparation which includes further studies in the ''theory," the "history," the ''direction," and the "administration" of play and recreation.

While I am indebted to many for the ideas incorporated in this study, and wish to convey in this manner my gratitude to all with whom I have been associated in the past, for the assistance that contact with them afforded me, I wish especially to thank Professors E. W. Burgess and R. E. Park of the University of Chicago, for their constructive criticisms of the manuscript which has been accepted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy in the Department of Sociology of that institution; and to express my indebtedness to my wife who was associated with me throughout my practical and teaching experiences and who gave invaluable aid in gathering the materials, reading the proofs, making the index, and without whose encouragement this book would doubtless remain as yet unfinished.

Clakence E. Rainwater Chicago, Illinois, September 1, 1921

Table Of Contents

CHAPTER PAC8

I. Introduction

A. The concept of a "movement" . . 1