September 28 – November 3, 2024

Play Time! Toys & Amusements from the Collection

  • Museum Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

This October season of whimsy seems like an ideal time to share selected toys and amusements from the Museum’s permanent collection, complimenting the Wee Faerie Village installations outdoors on the Museum’s grounds.

The toys exhibited attest to the continuities between historic amusements and their modern versions, which visitors are free to touch. Then, as now, dolls, trucks, and animals, as well as number and storytelling games, provided children not only delight but also opportunities to learn and practice social and emotional roles.

The toys and games preserved at the Museum have been well-loved, and we hope they will spark fond memories of childhood as well as encouraging play with the toys we have provided.

This exhibition has been made possible with support from donors to the Museum’s Exhibition Fund and Annual Fund.
Image: Selchow & Righter, New York, New York, The Game of Peter Coddle’s Trip to New York, ca. 1884. Lithograph mounted on cardboard, paper. Florence Griswold Museum, from the estate of Mrs. William Coult, 1964.157

Take a virtual tour of the exhibition...

  • Beatrice Pope Hoffman (1885–1957), Tramp, 1955. Wool, Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of David Hoffman, 2021.4

  • Alderman, Fairchild, and Company, Rochester, New York, Game of the World Flyers Air Race: Around the World Travel, 1927. Lithograph on cardboard, metal. Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of Miss Mabel Harris, 1957.67

  • Alderman, Fairchild, and Company, Rochester, New York, Game of the World Flyers Air Race: Around the World Travel, 1927. Lithograph on cardboard, metal. Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of Miss Mabel Harris, 1957.67