Over the course of the last month, Trent History professor Dr. Carolyn Kay has had the unique opportunity to conduct research on the lives of German children prior to WWI through the lens of literature in Berlin, thanks to winning a new scholarship from the Prussian Heritage Foundation (SPK), one of the largest cultural institutions in the world.

Professor Kay arrived in Berlin on July 27 and will return to Trent on August 23. During her time in Germany, she has been conducting her research in the children's library of the Staatsbibliothek Berlin -- the state library. According to Prof. Kay, the library houses "one of the most important collections of children's literature in the world."

First established in the 1950s, the collection is especially strong in 19th-century German children's books. During her time in the library, Prof. Kay has been studying picture books, fairy tales and stories for young children, written between 1860 and 1914. Her research addresses bourgeois children in Imperial Germany, and what values they were taught in literature during this era. Seeking to understand how these children were socialized to become German citizens, Kay has found some fascinating clues as to political and social attitudes in the years leading up to WW1.

“In Imperial Germany boys often read books about soldiers and German heroes, while books for girls instructed them to be obedient, to help their mothers with housework, and to learn to be good mothers (through play with dolls). In books for both sexes, obedience to authority was stressed. Some of these children would come of age during WW1, while others would later become members of the Third Reich. This is why the study of children in Germany before WW1 is so interesting for the historian,” Prof. Kay explains.

As one of the first recipients of the SPK research scholarship, which is designed to grant scholars up to three months of research in residence at one of the museums, libraries or archives in Berlin, Prof. Kay is grateful for the experiences she is gaining in Germany. Recently, she had the opportunity to share those experiences with a German audience in a media interview with German newspaper, Der Tagesspiegel.

Prof. Kay's current research project has enriched her understanding of German society in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a topic at the centre of her courses at Trent University on modern German history and on the Third Reich. She encourages her students to explore how and why so many Germans accepted authoritarian political leaders and embraced the idea that sacrifice for the state was a great virtue.

Commenting on her experiences living and studying in Berlin, Prof. Kay says: “This is a vibrant, unique city -- where freedom and self-expression are treasured. The museums for German and Jewish history are amazing too. History is truly alive in Berlin.”

A resident of Peterborough, Ontario, Prof. Kay has been teaching at Trent University since 1990. Her enthusiasm for learning and teaching has earned her the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations Teaching Award.