Object of the month: Adolescence everyday life | Eduardo Frei ...

In Chile, during the 1950s and the 1960s, it was very common for adolescents to share their rooms at home. Families were larger and used to have more neighborhood life rather than access to technologies.

In Chile, during the 1950s and the 1960s, the traditional structure of a middle class family consisted primarily in a father that worked away from home; meanwhile the mother would take care of the children and manage household economy. In the case of the Frei Ruiz-Tagle family, it was just that way. While Eduardo Frei Montalva was doing his utmost for his political activities, Maria Ruiz-Tagle was in charge of the housework and caring of their seven children, four girls and three boys. During this period, men were the heads of the households, and women were slowly beginning to be part of the world of work, outside the home.

From this concept, the life of a traditional adolescent of the period was divided into two subjects; studies and home, where the mother figure was always present. In this particular home, it was Maria Ruiz-Tagle, who was always worried about knitting and sewing things (like uniforms, pajamas, dresses, sweaters, and bedspreads, among others) for her children and grandchildren.

Young people spent a lot of hours reading adventure books, cartoons and magazines like El Peneca.

On the other hand, youth were accustomed to sharing everything they owned, from rooms to books, and also some games like marbles. They spent a lot of hours reading adventure books and cartoons. They used to memorize and recite poems, collect trading cards (of animals, cartoons, and football players, among others) until they completed albums.

Of course they used to listen to the radio, which was very important at Chilean homes. It was the mass media that people used in order to listen to novels, football, music and news, and it also kept people informed about what was happening across the country and abroad. Television was arriving at Chilean homes and it was not so common to own one as it is nowadays. Here in Eduardo Frei Montalva House Museum, you can find some radios that belonged to the Frei Montalva?s home which are true collection pieces nowadays. One of them is an Espey radio which is located in the boy?s room; it would accompany them on their free times. Imagination also played an important role, because they used to see the pictures of what was being told on the radio. Nowadays, these radios are part of the objects that can be seen when visiting of the house.

The street, the neighborhood and the friends

In general terms, in that period, it was very common for everybody who had the chance, to finish primary education, because students left school early in order to work and contribute to the household economy. Thanks to the educational reform (its purposes were to end with illiteracy and to increase the country?s development) carried out by by Eduardo Frei Montalva during his government between 1964 and 1970, education improved.

Women were more frequently incorporating to higher education. There is the the example of the Frei-Ruiz Tagle girls, who studied at Colegio Universitario Ingl?s; one of the few mixed schools at that time. Unlike their mother, the four of them attended College and studied traditional majors for women. Irene studied History and Geography, Carmen studied Preschool Education, Isabel Margarita studied Family Education and M?nica undertook Secretarial studies.

The three sons, Eduardo, Francisco and Jorge attended primary and secondary education at the same school their father did, Instituto de Humanidades Luis Campino, and then studied engineering majors in College.

At the House Museum, you can find the boy?s bedroom, which has different objects of the period, such as: a globe, a leather satchel for school, uniforms and different pictures taken at Instituto Luis Campino (which used to be located at the Centro de Extensi?n de la Universidad Cat?lica, its main campus on Alameda Avenue).

School bag

Together with the school, the typical adolescents of those years spent most of the time at home or around the neighborhood. At that period, neighbors were almost like siblings, and used to share books and games. Also, friends, neighbors and family visits were common, and they created strong bonds of friendship and camaraderie.

In the afternoons, it was very common especially in spring and summer, to play hopscotch, marbles, French skipping or skipping rope in parks or streets, and also, to sing together beautiful melodies and popular songs. Children and youth would share their books and magazines such as: ?El Peneca?, ?Condorito?, ?Estadio? cartoons and other magazines like ?Mec?nica Popular?, which were worn out due to the heavy use of different generations.

We invite you to see the different objects that accompanied the childhood and adolescence of the Frei Ruiz-Tagle siblings, and to connect with the Chile of the 60s.

Source: http://www.casamuseoeduardofrei.cl/site-eng/2013/06/object-of-the-month-adolescence-everyday-life/

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