Thread by @GabeMoshenska, Reading 'PEEPO!' as a WW2 material culture specialist: a thread. 1/12 Like [...]

Reading 'PEEPO!' as a WW2 material culture specialist: a thread. 1/12

Like me, PEEPO! first appeared in 1981, and is much loved by generations of tiny readers. It's a gentle story of a baby and the things he sees in and around his family home in wartime London. 2/12

The details of 1940s domestic life in Janet Ahlberg's illustrations are stunning: she used 'The Army and Navy Stores Catalogue, 1939-1940' as a reference for her richly populated interior scenes. 3/12

The Second World War intrudes into PEEPO! quite gently to begin with, and mostly stays in the background: a gas mask case hanging on the bed frame, a battledress jacket with corporal's stripes on the back of a chair, a ration book on the dining table. 4/12

Out in the street a tiny Air Raid Precautions Warden strolls past in his blue uniform and tin hat. 5/12

Out at the park there's a genial-looking RAF pilot by the pond, but in the background there's a bombed-out house, and a barrage balloon floats on its steel cable, waiting to saw the wings off enemy aircraft. 6/12

The dad's back in uniform, and a portrait of Churchill hangs on the wall. Is that supposed to be crossed UK and USA flags above him? 7/12

The 1940s period details are just wonderful, from the Picture Post and the soft furnishings to the radio and the sideboard it sits on. 8/12

Again, the traces of war stay in the background: two combat planes fly low in the distance, and there's another gas mask on the mantelpiece: a services model with eyepieces, not a General Civilian Respirator. 9/12

The final scene shows the baby looking in a mirror as he's carried to bed. The dad's in uniform: is he heading out for a Home Guard exercise or is he off to war? 10/12

PEEPO! gives a gentle, child's-eye view of WW2 Britain, where the war intrudes only subtly, almost hidden amongst the clutter of everyday things. The threats of loss and harm are hanging in the background, but familiar domesticity keeps them at bay, at least for now. 11/12

My book on WW2 childhood isn't quite as cute as PEEPO! but it is Open Access. Download 'Material Cultures of Childhood in Second World War Britain' for free from: http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315122946 12/12

Sure there's plenty I've missed! Please do add stuff https://twitter.com/artefactual_KW/status/1252248228327837701?s=19