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Article: Children's toys.(The NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY 200 years)
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- January 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Appealing to the imagination of children of all ages, the toy collection of the New-York Historical Society offers a miniature window into nineteenth-century American family life. The approximately three thousand objects that constitute the collection are made of wood, metal, paper, ceramic, and cloth and trace the social, economic, political, and military history of the nation. The collection documents how new toys were created in response to great events and as new materials and technologies were adapted by the European and American toy industries. (1) Although the collection most clearly illuminates the leisure pursuits of wealthy and middle-class children, simpler ...