Day after day, in a locked and sealed room on the third floor of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., two volunteers in white cotton gloves are quietly and methodically dissecting the question of how we play with form. They're examining build
Day after day, in a locked and sealed room on the third floor of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., two volunteers in white cotton gloves are quietly and methodically dissecting the question of how we play with form. They're examining build
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Mike Morgan
Toy: The Constructioneer Metal Building Set No. 4
Year: 1947
Manufacturer: The Urbana Manufacturing Co., Urbana, Ohio
Material: Metal
Info: Bearing the motto "Construction Toys Make Better Boys," this building set is made of heavy-gauge steel with nickelplate finish and includes rubber wheels. An electric motor could be purchased separately.
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Mike Morgan
Cataloging will proceed in the order the collection is shelved, by material, at an average of four hours per toy. The time frame for finishing depends entirely on the Building Museum being able to raise money for a full-time staff person next year. Currently, the work is done by two part-time volunteers.
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Mike Morgan
July 10, 2006
Four staff people from the Building Museum arrive in Peotone and begin to empty the Wetzel attic, inventorying, tagging, and packing the collection in the family's living room. Each night, art transporters pick up the bins filled that day, usually three to five boxes weighing 200 to 300 pounds each.
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Lynn Wetzel
Name: George Wetzel
Location: Peotone, Ill.
Age: 60
Job: Middle school English teacher, retired
Hobbies: Collecting construction toys and toy trains; playing ragtime piano; driving vintage Cadillacs.
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Mike Morgan
August 9, 2006
Two air-ride, climate-controlled tractor trailers deliver the collection to the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Fifty-five bins of toys are unloaded in the museum's Great Hall.
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Mike Morgan
November 2006
An empty gallery space on the third floor of the museum is transformed into a permanent storage and cataloging space for the toy collection, which on closer inspection seems to number closer to 2,000 than Wetzel's original estimate of 1,400. Baked-enamel steel shelving provides 1,053 linear feet of open-view storage, which not only helps catalogers see what they're doing but also helps the museum's fundraising by bringing visitors behind the scenes to see the work in progress. To protect the toys, a hydrothermograph regulates the climate at 50 percent relative humidity and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. UV sleeves cover the overhead fluorescent lights.
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Mike Morgan
Toy: Erector Set No. 10 1/2
Year: Circa 1951
Material: Metal
Info: The "Giant Power Plant Model" incorporates an electric engine and features a steam cylinder "with valve action," according to the toy's manual; a tower platform with boilers that "represent compressors in the original Corliss engine," the steam engine that powered the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia; and a flywheel built from eight wheel segments.
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Mike Morgan
May 22, 2007
Cataloging begins with object 2006.5.001, alphabet blocks, manufacturer unknown. Wooden ABC blocks are among the earliest forms of building toys-both in terms of history and the way children learn to play. Pictured here, object 2006.5.37, Big Letter ABC Blocks, copyright 1889 by McLoughlin Bros., New York. The hand-stitched repair along the sides of the box make this one of registrar Dana Twersky's favorite items in the collection.
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Mike Morgan
August 7, 2007
Item 2006.5.97, architectural wooden blocks from The Embossing Co. There is no date on the toy, but the box top shows two people in Victorian style clothing, suggesting that the toy is from the late 1800s.
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Mike Morgan
Photograph
The first step: documenting the toy in the condition it was received from the collector. Using no flash, Purcell photographs the closed container first, then the open container with its contents displayed around it. The object number is clearly displayed on a label.
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Mike Morgan
Measure
With a cloth tape, Arsnow measures the height, width, and depth of all the toy's parts. It can be a tedious process, but "it's worth it to do it the right way up front," says Twersky. The information will help in planning future exhibits.
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Mike Morgan
Clean
Arsnow uses a natural-bristle brush, which has the handle's edges taped off to prevent scratching, to gently remove dust, grease, insect casings, or other dirt that might degrade the toy. A small portable vacuum, typically used for cleaning toner dust from electronics, removes 0.3 micron-sized dust. Catalogers only clean preventively now; later, conservators will spend hours cleaning toys that are chosen for display.
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Mike Morgan
February 14, 2008
One of many sets of Lincoln Logs, object number 2006.5.140, circa 1955.
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Mike Morgan
Forecast: October 2009
With a full-timer on staff, catalogers could reach the shelves of Froebels wooden blocks next fall. Frank Lloyd Wright had a set as a child and would later recall, "The smooth shapely maple blocks with which to build, the sense of which never afterwards leaves the fingers: so form became feeling."
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Mike Morgan
Label
Each toy is assigned an object ID number in sequence after "2006.5," which indicates that the item is from the fifth collection the museum acquired in the year 2006. The number is recorded on worksheets and on the toy itself, using a 6B pencil (on a scale up to 9B, it's close to the softest pencil made). If the toy is metal or plastic, volunteers paint the number on it with acrylic paint.
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Mike Morgan
Catalog
Purcell enters a report on object number 2006.5.140, the "Daniel, Christmas 1955" set of Lincoln Logs, in a database using PastPerfect software. Eventually, researchers worldwide will be able to access images and information about the toys from the database.
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Mike Morgan
Forecast: December 2009
Heavy in their wooden boxes are "stone" block sets, such as the Richter's Anchor Blocks shown here. The German stacking blocks feel like real stone but are made from compressed and dyed sand, chalk, and linseed-oil varnish. The popular early 20th century toys came with guides illustrating possible designs. Richter blocks fall into the category collectors call "Sunday toys" treasured items children played with once a week.
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Mike Morgan
Forecast: July 2010
The collection includes 531 metal toys, of which 108 are Erector sets. Knockoffs include the Ezy-Bilt, an Australian toy that claims to be "Creative Constructive Instructive Absorbing 1001 Toys from One."
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Mike Morgan
Toy: Gilbert Skyscraper Erector Set
Year: Circa 1935
Material: Cardboard with metal girders
Info: A Gilbert Skyscraper Erector Set included up to seven different types of cardboard panels with names such as "Main Entrance," "Garage Entrance," "Office Entrance," and "Upper Story." Each panel is color-lithographed on both faces, offering a choice of two façades: concrete or brick. Cardboard panels are fastened to metal girders with either machine screws or snap rivets.
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Mike Morgan
Forecast: September 2011
LEGOs aren't the only plastic building toys. Predating LEGOs is the Tri-State Brick Town, advertised as "Professional! Instructional! Authentic!"
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Mike Morgan
Forecast: April 2012 Ninety cardboard toys make up a small section of the collection. Mostly produced during the Depression and World War II, cardboard toys haven't survived the test of time as well as other materials.
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Mike Morgan
A sampling from the 1,053 linear feet of storage