IN 1925, THE PLAYGROUND AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA made a statement that might seem more at home in a controversial political manifesto than a training manual for recreation workers. The Normal Course in Play claimed that “control can be developed without loss of the sense of freedom, and it is the only way in which freedom can be maintained.1 Untangling the contradictive relationship between freedom and control articulated here requires an understanding of the mental jungle gym of Progressive Era playground advocates. This same document also claims that “play can be taught without destroying its spontaneity; it can be subjected to leadership without loss of the play spirit.”2
Statements like these are revealing of the Progressive Era emphasis on control of children that was manifested in several ways on newly developed playgrounds in cities like Chicago. The most notable of these manifestations was the adult supervision of...
