A BIBLIOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF RESEARCH
ON CHILDHOOD PLAY IN IMAGINARY WORLDS

1907: Hall, G. Stanley (Ed.). Aspects of Child Life and Education, by G. Stanley Hall and Some of His Pupils. Theodate L. Smith (Ed.). Boston: Ginn & Company/Athenaeum Press.
HALL DISCUSSES PROLONGED PLAY IN A SANDPILE, WITHOUT REFERENCING IMAGINARY COUNTRIES.

1919: Terman, Lewis. The Intelligence of School Children (New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.).
TERMAN REPORTS ON A PRECOCIOUS CHILD, TANGENTIALLY MENTIONING THE BOY’S INVENTION OF AN IMAGINARY COUNTRY.

1925: Terman, L.M., assisted by B.T. Baldwin, E. Bronson, J.C. DeVoss, F. Fuller, F.L. Goodenough, T.L. Kelley, M. Lima, H. Marshall, A.H. Moore, A.S. Raubenhaimner, G.M. Ruch, R.L. Willoughby, J.B. Wyman, & D.H.Yates. Mental and physical traits of a thousand gifted children. Vol. 1. Genetic Studies of Genius. Stanford, CA: Stanford U. Press. (2nd ed. published 1954)
TERMAN ASKS WHETHER HIS LARGE STUDY GROUP OF SMART CHILDREN HAVE IMAGINARY COUNTRIES OR COMPANIONS.

1929: Hollingworth, Leta S. Gifted Children, Their Nature and Nurture (New York: MacMillan Co.) Originally published 1926.
HOLLINGWORTH FOLLOWS UP ON TERMAN’S PRECOCIOUS SUBJECT AND OTHER PRODIGIES, NOTING THEIR PLAY IN IMAGINARY COUNTRIES.

1942: Hollingworth, Leta S. Children above 180 IQ: Origin and development. Yonkers-on-Hudson, NY: World Book Company.
DITTO.

1977: Silvey, Robert. (13 May). But that was in another country… Times Educational Supplement, 18.
SILVEY LAUNCHES THE FIRST LARGE-SCALE, RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF PLAY IN IMAGINARY WORLDS, OR PARACOSMS, A TERM COINED AT HIS BEHEST.

1988: Silvey, Robert & Stephen MacKeith. The Paracosm: A Special Form of Fantasy. In Delmont C. Morrison (Ed.), Organizing Early Experience: Imagination and Cognition in Childhood (pp. 173-197). Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing Company.
SILVEY COLLABORATES WITH MACKEITH IN THIS FIRST REPORT ON THE PARACOSM STUDY.

1990: Cohen, David. (December). Private worlds of childhood. New Scientist, 28-30.
COHEN ANTICIPATES THE 1991 BOOK ON IMAGINARY WORLDS, WHICH HE CO-AUTHORS WITH MACKEITH.

1991: Cohen, David & Stephen A. MacKeith. The Development of Imagination: The Private Worlds of Childhood. London: Routledge.
MACKEITH COLLABORATES WITH COHEN ON THE FIRST BOOK TO PRESENT, CATEGORIZE AND ANALYZE THE PARACOSM MATERIALS GATHERED BY SILVEY.

1999: Taylor, Marjorie. Imaginary companions and the children who create them. New York:
Oxford University Press.
TAYLOR SUMMARIZES THE SILVEY, MACKEITH AND COHEN RESEARCH AS AN INTERESTING TIE-IN TO THE STUDY OF IMAGINARY FRIENDS.

2006: Root-Bernstein, Michele and Root-Bernstein, Robert. Imaginary Worldplay in Childhood and Maturity and Its Impact on Adult Creativity, Creativity Research Journal, 18 (4) 405-425.
I LAUNCH MY OWN STUDY OF WORLDPLAY AMONG MACARTHUR FELLOWS AND MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, WITH HELP FROM MY HUSBAND AND COLLABORATOR.

2007: Runco, Mark. Creativity, Theories and Themes: Research, Development, and Practice. New York: Elsevier.
RUNCO CITES MY 2006 PAPER.

2009: Root-Bernstein, Michele. Imaginary Worldplay as an Indicator of Creative Giftedness. L. Shavinina (Ed.), The International Handbook on Giftedness (pp. 599-616). Springer Science.

2013: Root-Bernstein, Michele. The Creation of Imaginary Worlds. In M. Taylor (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination (pp. 417-437). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2013: Root-Bernstein, Michele. Worldplay as Creative Practice and Educational Strategy. In D.P. Phillips & L. Book (Eds.), Creativity and Entrepreneurship: Changing Currents in Education and Public Life (pp.55-65). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
I REPORT ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF MY RESEARCH.

2014: Root-Bernstein, Michele. Inventing Imaginary Worlds: From Childhood Play to Adult Creativity Across the Arts and Sciences. Rowman and Littlefield.
I PUBLISH MY BOOK.

MORE TO COME: CURRENT RESEARCH REFOCUSES ON CHILDREN ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN WORLDPLAY.