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Welcome to the Russian Nursery: Toys and Games in Nineteenth-Century Russia

March 21 @ 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm EDT

Welcome to the Russian Nursery: Toys and Games in Nineteenth-Century Russia

An online lecture with Liliya Dashevski 

What did children play with in nineteenth-century Russia? Many of us might immediately think of the matreshka—the iconic Russian nesting doll. But surprisingly, matreshkas were not actually traditional folk toys at all. They were invented at the very end of the nineteenth century to look traditional.

So if Russian children were not playing with matreshkas, what were they playing with?

This talk examines the rich and often underexplored world of children’s toys and games from both peasant and elite households, from handmade wooden figures to imported European dolls, board games, and paper theatres. It shows that Russian play culture was not simply “traditional” or “European,” but a blend of both. Russian childhood was shaped by a vernacular craft tradition shared across social classes and by a Europeanized model adapted to elite educational goals. Looking at toys allows us to rethink how Russians imagined childhood, culture, and identity in a period of profound social change.
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About the Speaker

Liliya Dashevski is a PhD candidate in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University. Her dissertation research focuses on the play culture of Russian childhood in the long nineteenth century. She examines how toys, games, and books contribute to the imagination and construction of childhood, particularly in relation to concepts of nation and identity. Liliya has presented her research at many international conferences. Alongside her scholarly work, she has developed a strong interest in museum and curatorial practices. She has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, studying paper dolls in the Department of Drawings and Prints, served as a Curatorial Assistant for the exhibition “Dollatry: Playing with Likeness,” and designed and led an oral history project at the Yale Center for British Art.

Connecting with Zoom

This virtual lecture is presented live via Zoom. Registered users will be emailed a link to join this Zoom program. To get started, please download Zoom on your chosen device and explore the Frequently Asked Questions.

This program will be recorded and posted to the museum’s YouTube channel.

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