Background
Ransel, David Lorimer was born on February 20, 1939 in Gary, Indiana, United States. Son of Joseph A. and Patricia (Lorimer) Ransel.
(At the height of its operation in the second half of the ...)
At the height of its operation in the second half of the nineteenth century, the central foundling home in Moscow was receiving 17,000 children each year. The home dispatched most to wet nurses and foster care in the countryside, where at any one time it supervised over 40,000 children in Moscow province and six adjoining provinces. Established by Empress Catherine II in the middle of the eighteenth century, the two central foundling homes (the other was in St. Petersburg) were intended to deal humanely with the growing problems of abandonment and infanticide and to serve as social laboratories for educating artisans and craftspeople. David Ransel explores the creation and management of these institutions, shows how they functioned as a point of contact between educated society and the village, and compares them to the European foundling care programs on which they were modeled. "There were two central foundling homes in Russia, one in Moscow, one in St. Petersburg. . . . In this book no significant aspect of their history is left untouched, and many issues are described and analyzed in rich detail. . . . the book becomes, in part, a history of rural Russia over a one-hundred-fifty-year period, or, more accurately, of the provincial hinterlands of the two capitals. . . . The interaction between city and countryside turns out to be much more than a clich in this fascinating study." --Reginald E. Zelnik, American Historical Review
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691008485/?tag=2022091-20
( "An outstanding work of historical ethnography.... The ...)
"An outstanding work of historical ethnography.... The book offers wonderful insight into how women created and understood the great changes of the 20th century. It is unique in its scope and its intimate knowledge of rural life." ―Russian Review "A major contribution to the field.... an important book that should be of considerable interest to medical historians and historians of peasants, the family, and of women." ―American Historical Review Village Mothers describes the reception of modern medical ideas and practices by three generations of Russian and Tatar village women in the 20th century. Using the village mothers’ own words, David L. Ransel shows how the women mediated the inherited beliefs of their families and communities, the claims of the state to control reproduction, and their personal desires for a better life.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0253218209/?tag=2022091-20
Ransel, David Lorimer was born on February 20, 1939 in Gary, Indiana, United States. Son of Joseph A. and Patricia (Lorimer) Ransel.
Bachelor, Coe College, 1961; Master of Arts, Northwestern University, 1962; Doctor of Philosophy, Yale University, 1969.
Instructor, Tollare Folkhogskola, Boo, Sweden, 1959-1960; assistant instructor, Yale University, New Haven, 1966-1967; instructor, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1967-1969; assistant professor, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1969-1973; associate professor, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1973-1981; professor, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1981-1985; professor, Indiana U., Bloomington, since 1985; director Russian and East European Institute, Indiana U., Bloomington, since 1995.
(At the height of its operation in the second half of the ...)
( "An outstanding work of historical ethnography.... The ...)
(. with dw, 1975, 327pp)
Member American History Association (governor council 1985-1995, finance committee 1989-1995), American Association for Advancement of Slavic Studies (board directors 1979-1985, member finance committee 1980-1985, chairman committee on status of women 1991-1993, vice president, president-elect 2003, president 2004-2005, immediate past president 2005), Irex (program committee 1995-1999).
Married Therese Holma. Children: Shairstin, Annaliisa.