Games
The Society's game collection has over 200 items, and continues to grow as
acquisition opportunities appear. The games are arranged in two
classes: one for instructional games, the other for entertaining
games. The games collection is particularly strong in holdings of board
and card games, both for children and young adults. In addition, the
collection has a fine representative sampling of puzzles, blocks, and
paper dolls. The games collection can be surveyed and accessed through an
online
checklist. McLoughlin Brothers, a firm that pioneered
the mass production of color picture books, also published a significant
number of games in the collection. Over one thousand McLoughlin Brothers
picture books are now in the AAS children.s literature collection, some of
which contain advertisements for games available at AAS. The Society also
holds archival drawings depicting figures used in some McLoughlin Brothers
games. These drawings can be accessed through a
finding
aid. Historians conducting research on topics such as childhood,
courtship, leisure, the rise of popular authorship, and the cult of
celebrity will find very rich materials in the games collection.
- Laura E. Wasowicz, Curator of Children's Literature
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W. & S. B. Ives published The Game of Pope and Pagan in Salem,
Massachusetts, in 1844. The game collection features board games and card
games, both instructional and entertaining.
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