Deb Shine Valentine and Dave Valentine: Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse (Arcadia Images In America Series)

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About this event

Dr. Deborah Shine Valentine has one of the coolest job titles we can imagine: play movement scholar. Her new book– a new addition to the beloved Arcadia Images in America Series– is all about the Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse, a 125+-year-old playground in Philadelphia. The evolution of Smith’s Playground and Playhouse and the numerous other programs and facilities it ran across the city over its first 125 years follows the development and theories of the playground movement and other child-saving campaigns of the 19th and 20th centuries. In other words, it’s a great starting point for conversations about the impact of play, play as resistance in challenging times, and playgrounds as sites of learning to connect across difference. Deb Valentine and her husband Dave Valentine, who also spent many hours playing with their children at the playground, join us for a conversation on the Ivy patio. And we hope you will, too.

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