The Periodical <i>Olam Katan</i> (1901–1904) and Its Readers: A Study in Modern Jewish Childhood in Eastern Europe

Abstract Olam Katan [Small World] was the first illustrated Hebrew periodical for children, edited by Avraham Leib Shalkovich (aka Ben-Avigdor) and Shmuel Leib Gordon (aka Shalag). It was published first in Vienna (1901–1902) and then in Cracow (1902–1904). This article reconstructs the readership of this periodical through the analysis of a unique source: a collection of children’s letters sent to Olam Katan and printed in its pages. Children’s Zionist culture is studied as reflected in the readers’ correspondence. Applying quantitative and qualitative methods, and methods of digital humanities and spatial analysis, this article reconstructs the geography, age, and gender of the readers of Olam Katan, setting them in the broader context of modern Jewish childhood in Eastern Europe.