["The aim is familiarity with the infant". Work and research in the Jackson Nursery (Vienna 1937/38)]. / "Vertrautheit mit dem Kleinkind ist das Ziel". Die Arbeit und Forschung in der Jackson-Krippe (Wien 1937/38).

The "Jackson Nursery", existing from February 1937 until March 1938, was directed by Anna Freud and financed by Edith Jackson and Dorothy Burlingham. It took care of infants from the poorest strata of Vienna and also gave material support to their families. On the other hand, it was a training institution for psychoanalysts, offering the opportunity of observing children during their first two years, e. g. their feeding habits and social sense. In addition, the Jackson Nursery was a place for research where psychoanalytic theories of infantile development were checked against the findings of direct observation. The work started here was then continued by A. Freud and D. Burlingham on a larger scale in their War Nurseries.--This paper examines the many-sided activities in the nursery mainly on the basis of unpu blished archival documents.

Anna Freud: the Hampstead War Nurseries and the role of the direct observation of children for psychoanalysis.

The psychoanalytic tradition of direct observation of children has a long history, going back to the early 20th century, when psychoanalysis and the emerging field of 'child studies' came into fruitful contact in Freud's Vienna. As a leading figure in the attempted integration of direct observation with the new psychoanalytic knowledge emerging from the consulting room, Anna Freud played a crucial role in the emergence of this field. But her major contribution to the theory and practice of observing children came during the Second World War, when she founded the Hampstead War Nurseries. The author describes in detail this important period of Anna Freud's career, and discusses the impact it had on later work. He explores the theoretical contribution that Anna Freud made in the post-war years to the debate about the place of direct observation in psychoanalysis, and concludes that Anna Freud's 'double approach' (direct observation plus analytic reconstruction) still has a great deal to offer as a method of both psychoanalytic research and education.

[The nuclear family and social protection of children]. / Famiglia nucleare e protezione sociale dell'infanzia.

The nuclear family is the consequence and reflection of rapid industrialization of the country. It requires a wider safeguarding of infancy in the framework of more extensive social and care service structures. Kindergartens and nursery schools are the basic answers to child care, coupled with the network of independent institutions, and hospitals, out-patients centres and school medical services, and the local health unit, which supervises services in its district. Mention is also made of the measures still needed to ensure that kindergartens and nursery schools are available and efficient, and what must still be done with regard to school medicine (prophylaxis, retrieval of the handicapped, rehabilitation) to achieve a more advanced system of social protection in childhood.

Illustration of genetic syndromes in the nursery.

Reading to children and storytelling has documented developmental benefits. Traditional Nursery Rhymes (Mother Goose tales in North America) encapsulate 'snapshots' of the people described and chronicle their customs, superstitions, and amusements. Art has long been employed to document the impact of human imperfections and diseases. We investigated whether illustrations accompanying nursery rhymes, suggest that any characters illustrated may have had or been based on recognized morphological abnormalities, and if this literature documents a role for grandmothers as storytellers. Archival materials were reviewed at the Victoria and Albert museum and Mary Evans picture library, and via the web. As early as 1695, Perrault included a frontispiece of a mature woman as storyteller in his book of fairytales. Similar scenes by various artists (Boilly, Cruikshank, Guy, Highmore, Maclise, Richter, and Smith) are found consistently from 1744 to 1908. Many illustrators (Aldin, Caldecott, Cruikshank, Doré, Dulac, Gale, Greenaway, Rackham, Tarrant, and Wood) portray infants, children, and adults who are dwarfed, giant, or whimsically grotesque. Many images certainly suggest genetic syndromes, and in some characters consistency of specific features is evident between artists. Our research confirms the wealth of children's nursery rhyme illustrations suggesting pathology; that an authoritative compilation of the morphologies depicted is lacking; and that historically, grandmothers have a central role as storytellers.