When I was a little girl, my family took yearly road trips from South Carolina to West Virginia and

When I was a little girl, my family took yearly road trips from South Carolina to West Virginia and Virginia to see our grandparents. I always loved how they held onto a plethora of toys from the early to mid-20th century for all the grandchildren and eventually great-grandchildren to play with. We had access to old building blocks, dolls, train sets, board games, little green army men, playing cards and more. Some of my fondest memories include those of my parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents telling stories about the toys.As an adult, I can’t help but get excited when I see toys in museums, archives and at historic sites. One of my favorite parts of the Culin Archival Collection is the Games series. Stewart Culin, the Museum’s first Curator of Ethnology, collected correspondence, manuscripts and typescripts, articles, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings regarding games from various countries and cultures around the world. The series includes a number of pen and ink or colored drawings of playing cards, dice, dolls and board games; and a small leather-bound notebook with Culin’s notes regarding Chinese games, dominoes and other forms of games. Culin also took notes describing the names and rules for games of marbles used in various street games played by children in Philadelphia and Brooklyn. In fact, Culin was an authority on games and his Games of the North American Indians and Korean Games books are still referred to today as landmark works. The #BKMLibrary holds numerous publications regarding Culin’s expertise.A recent reference request sparked my interest in playing cards. The researcher asked for a scan of an advertisement located in the Playing Cards subseries. I thought about how my grandparents had several decks of old playing cards and taught us how to play Rummy. I remember being more interested in the various decks of cards and asking how old they were and where they came from. As I was looking through the folder I came across some really interesting stuff, including hand drawings of Mexican playing cards (top). Culin collected different types of playing cards and catalogues, advertisements, pamphlets and clippings on various types of cards and card games. I may have spent a little longer than I normally would on this type of request, but I couldn’t resist going through the all the folders. It’s such a delight to work with a collection that brings back so many happy memories!Posted by Jennifer NealPhotos: Brooke Baldeschwiler -- source link
Tumblr Blog : brooklynmuseum.tumblr.com

More pics about