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Cartoon drawing of a child hiding behind a man.

How Robert Crumb Channeled Mid-Century Teenage Angst Into Art

Dan Nadel on the formative awkward adolescence of an iconic American cartoonist.
by Dan Nadel via Literary Hub on April 15, 2025
Two campers kissing at Camp Cejwin, 1982.

The Jewish Summer Camp Hookup Scene Is Real. Here’s Why It Was Built.

All coed camps can be like this. But Jewish ones were different.
by Sandra Fox via Slate on March 7, 2023

Teen ‘Boys Will Be Boys’: A Brief History

The concept of adolescence is a recent invention — and it has been applied unevenly to children from different backgrounds.
by Ashwini Tambe via The Conversation on September 27, 2018
A young girl in black and white look at her reflection, in color, in a mirror.

How Judy Blume’s "Deenie" Helped Destigmatize Masturbation

On self-pleasure and sex education in children's literature.
by Rachelle Bergstein via Literary Hub on July 16, 2024
Scene from The Burning, 1981.

Why Are So Many Horror Movies Set at Summer Camp?

Isolation and a heady mix of hormones and fear provide the perfect setting for bloody revenge.
by Gavia Baker-Whitelaw via Atlas Obscura on June 17, 2024
Digital image of Lindsay Lohan, saying "Lindsay all grown up."

Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon

This tale of two girlhoods, Shirley Temple’s and Lindsay Lohan’s, sheds light on what “woman” means in the world of eroticized youth.
by Katherine Fusco via Dilettante Army on April 16, 2024
Still from Say Anything (1989) with a man holding a boom box above his head.

When Do We Stop Finding New Music? A Statistical Analysis

When does our taste in music stagnate?
by Daniel Parris via Stat Significant on April 10, 2024
Google's word occurences tool shows the word "teenager" appear around 1940, with an exponential increase in occurences up through the 2000s.

Teenagers Didn't Always Exist

So where were those angsty kids?
by Chris Dalla Riva via Can't Get Much Higher on March 16, 2023
A mural dedicated to George Floyd, left, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery in Tampa.
partner

Race, Class and Gender Shape How We See Age and Childhood

Assessing age — and protecting children — has always been subjective.
by Bill Bush, Erin Mysogland via Made By History on October 18, 2022
New York City sidewalk full of people wearing hats.

Hat Havoc in the Big Apple

The Hat Riots of 1922 show how arbitrary, elite rules can spur civil unrest.
by Katrina Gulliver via Law & Liberty on September 9, 2022
Linda Kay Klein as a teenager
partner

Shamed Over Sex, a Generation Confronts the Past

Former followers of an evangelical “purity” movement that promoted a strict view of abstinence are grappling with aftershocks.
via Retro Report on April 6, 2021
Still from "The Baby Sitters Club" TV show.

The Baby-Sitters Club Is Ready to Teach a New Generation About Work

Locked-down parents will need an army of tween child-minders. Let "The Baby-Sitters Club" show them the way.
by Rebecca Onion via Slate on July 3, 2020

When Schools Closed in 1916, Some Students Never Returned

Research into the long-term consequences of a polio outbreak found that older students are at highest risk for harm.
by Stephen Mihm via Bloomberg on June 26, 2020

Come On and Zoom-Zoom

The original “Zoom” burst joyfully out of Boston in the 1970s, and is still beloved by older members of Generation X.
by David Kamp via The New Yorker on May 11, 2020

How Training Bras Constructed American Girlhood

In the twentieth century, advertisements for a new type of garment for preteen girls sought to define the femininity they sold.
by Christine Ro via JSTOR Daily on March 18, 2020

Jefferson’s Doomed Educational Experiment

The University of Virginia was supposed to transform a slave-owning generation, but it failed.
by Annette Gordon-Reed via The Atlantic on November 10, 2019

The Big Data of Big Hair

We investigated a dataset of more than 30,000 high school yearbook photos from 1930–2013 to find out when big hair was at its height.
by Jan Diehm, Elle O'Brien via The Pudding on November 1, 2019

Selling Slashers to Teen Girls

The heroines of 1970s and 80s teen horror movies were traditionally feminine, tough, and sexually confident.
by Livia Gershon, Richard Nowell via JSTOR Daily on September 25, 2019

Jenny Zhang on Reading Little Women and Wanting to Be Like Jo March

Looking to Louisa May Alcott's heroine for inspiration.
by Jenny Zhang via Literary Hub on August 23, 2019
Gas station turned cannabis dispensary

Puff, Puff, Pass

The explosion of kid-friendly paraphernalia led the federal government to crack down on pot.
by Emily Dufton via Perspectives on History on April 25, 2019

Reconsidering the Jewish American Princess

How the JAP became America’s most complex Jewish stereotype.
by Jamie Lauren Keiles via Vox on December 5, 2018

What the Popularity of 'Fortnite' Has in Common With the 20th Century Pinball Craze

Long before parents freaked over the ubiquitous video game, they flipped out over another newfangled fad.
by Clive Thompson via Smithsonian on November 29, 2018
Map of the United States from 1828.

In Its First Decades, The United States Nurtured Schoolgirl Mapmakers

Education for women and emerging nationhood, illustrated with care and charm.
by Sarah Laskow via Atlas Obscura on November 28, 2018

Brett Kavanaugh Goes to the Movies

A film scholar reflects on the image of masculinity depicted in "Grease 2," released the same summer of Kavanaugh's alleged assault.
by Marsha Gordon via The Conversation on October 2, 2018

The Rape Culture of the 1980s, Explained by Sixteen Candles

The beloved romantic comedy’s date rape scene provides important context for the Brett Kavanaugh accusations.
by Constance Grady via Vox on September 27, 2018

When The U.S. Government Tried To Replace Migrant Farmworkers With High Schoolers

When the blazing sun came up on the teenagers' first day of work, "everyone looked at each other, and said, 'What did we do?'"
by Gustavo Arellano via NPR on August 23, 2018
Still of Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevez from The Breakfast Club.

What About “The Breakfast Club”?

Revisiting the movies of my youth in the age of #MeToo.
by Molly Ringwald via The New Yorker on April 6, 2018

The Girls High School Experiment

In 1830, Boston had just concluded a radical experiment — a high school for girls.
via Boston Archives And Records Management on January 17, 2018

From Boy Geniuses to Mad Scientists

How Americans got so weird about science.
by Lisa Hix via Collectors Weekly on August 4, 2017

How Did YA Become YA?

Why is it called YA anyway? And who decided what was YA and what wasn’t?
by Anne Rouyer via New York Public Library on April 20, 2015
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