Primers, culture(s) of childhood and educational models in Europe (16-20^th centuries)

Abstract

This collection of articles is devoted to the history of primers, literacy and education in some European countries during XVI-XX centuries. Most of them were presented during the international Conference "The source of child's learning...": the role of primers and basal readers through time and cultures organized by the Russian State University for the Humanities, the Russian Academy of Education, the Ushinsky State Scientific Pedagogical Library, the State Library of Russia and the State Public Historical Library and held at the Ushinsky State Scientific Pedagogical Library from 8 to 12^th October 2014. A considerable part is devoted to spellers printed in Russia in the 16^th and 17^th centuries and addresses the education of the tsar, the nobility and the clergy; the others present new researches on the history of primers in different European countries from different points of view (from multilingual and school to education and totalitarian ideologies) in order to show how, through the changes of the modern Era, they can be considered not only a literacy tool but also a tool for propaganda, promoting new values in the mass schooling of the 20^th century.