Schoolchildren gardening, St Saviour's, Canongate

Category

Library Item

Item no

17818

Title

Schoolchildren gardening, St Saviour's, Canongate

Description

A group of schoolchildren are crouched down working in their garden. The children all wear matching overalls. The garden is enclosed on all sides by high buildings. There is shelving against the wall on the left where buckets and spades and other tools are kept.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1909

Size

10.9 x 15.5 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This is a photograph from 'The Life History of a Slum Child' focusing on the community living in the Canongate. Accompanying text reads, "And the childish glee and merriment which echoes from the sand-patch tell their own story - the joy of life is not filtered through the filth of the streets or the sordidness of the home, but comes untainted in an atmosphere of discipline and love."
St Saviours began in 1906 in Brown's Close and moved to Chessels Court in 1908. Diary of a Free Kindergarten by Lileen Hardy was published in 1912 and records daily life in the Kindergarten and can be read online via the Library of Congress. The images taken for the Diary of a Free Kindergarten were taken by Francis Caird Inglis and many are the same or very similar to those within this exhibition and taken from 'The Life History of a Slum Child'.

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Related subjects

Landscape > Landscape architectural facilities > Gardens

People > Children > Schoolchildren

Places > Edinburgh areas > Canongate

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh