Family & Social Life

Donations to the Museum have preserved irreplaceable evidence about generations of ordinary Americans. Objects from the Copp household of Stonington, Connecticut, include many items used by a single family from 1740 to 1850. Other donations have brought treasured family artifacts from jewelry to prom gowns. These gifts and many others are all part of the Museum's family and social life collections.

Children's books and Sunday school lessons, tea sets and family portraits also mark the connections between members of a family and between families and the larger society. Prints, advertisements, and artifacts offer nostalgic or idealized images of family life and society in times past. And the collections include a few modern conveniences that have had profound effects on American families and social life, such as televisions, video games, and personal computers.

Original artwork, of page 9, for the book New Brother New Sister, written by Jean Fielder with illustrations by Joan Esley, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1966.Marjorie Joan Esley (1904-2000) was born in upstate New York and showed a proficiency for art a
Description (Brief)

Original artwork, of page 9, for the book New Brother New Sister, written by Jean Fielder with illustrations by Joan Esley, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1966.

Marjorie Joan Esley (1904-2000) was born in upstate New York and showed a proficiency for art at a young age. She attended the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (now known as RIT) and the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. During her time at RIT she became close friends with a fellow student, Eloise Wilkin, who also became an illustrator for Little Golden Books. Esley, worked as a freelance artist illustrating children’s readers for school textbooks, as well as drawing for the Girl Scout Magazine and the Post. Esley contracted with Little Golden Books to work on New Brother, New Sister and Play Street, both written by Esther Wilkin, sister-in-law of fellow illustrator, Eloise Wilkin. In addition to her work as an illustrator, Esley went on to author and illustrate several books of her own.

The concept of the "here and now” as seen in New Brother, New Sister, was Golden Books attempt to introduce and link children to everyday life experiences. Promoted in home advice columns as well as advertisements, this book and others like The New Baby, were early attempts to help 2-5-year old children welcome the new sibling to the family. The theories behind progressive education stressed the need for intellectual, personal and emotional development in order to create a well-rounded individual.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1966
maker
Esley, Joan
ID Number
1992.0634.094.10
accession number
1992.0634
catalog number
1992.0634.094.10
This steel, glass and plastic thermos bottle was made by Aladdin Industries in 1968. It has a screw-on white plastic cup lid with handle and screw-on white plastic stopper.
Description (Brief)
This steel, glass and plastic thermos bottle was made by Aladdin Industries in 1968. It has a screw-on white plastic cup lid with handle and screw-on white plastic stopper. The bottle is decorated with blue and gray with cartoon images of the The Flying Nun, a show that ran from 1967-1970 on ABC and starred Sally Fields as Sister Bertrille.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1968
maker
Aladdin
ID Number
2003.3070.06.02
nonaccession number
2003.3070
catalog number
2003.3070.06.02
These oddly cut index cards are actually programs for the very first video games.These program cards were used with the “Brown Box,” prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system.
Description
These oddly cut index cards are actually programs for the very first video games.
These program cards were used with the “Brown Box,” prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. Users of the "Brown Box" could play a variety of games by flipping the switches along the front of the unit. The games included ping-pong, checkers, four different sports games, target shooting with the use of a lightgun and a golf putting game which required the use of a special attachment.
To play these games, the user placed one of these program cards between the two sets of switches on the "Brown Box" (as you can see in the picture). The dots on the card indicated in which position the switches should be set. Magnavox licensed the "Brown Box" and released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972, with the switch system replaced by a plug-in game slot and plastic program cards.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1967
patent holder
Baer, Ralph H.
inventor
Baer, Ralph H.
ID Number
2006.0102.05
catalog number
2006.0102.05
accession number
2006.0102
This machine paved the way for the video games of today.In 1967, Ralph Baer and his colleagues at Sanders Associates, Inc. developed a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system.
Description
This machine paved the way for the video games of today.
In 1967, Ralph Baer and his colleagues at Sanders Associates, Inc. developed a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. Since Sanders hoped to license the technology for a commercial venture, Baer understood that the games had to be fun or investors and consumers would not be interested. In an oral history interview (copies available in the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History), Ralph Baer recalled, “The minute we played ping-pong, we knew we had a product. Before that we weren’t too sure.”
Originally called TV Game Unit #7, much like the "Pump Unit" before it, it became far better known by its nickname, “The Brown Box.” The name comes from the brown wood-grain, self-adhesive vinyl used to make the prototype look more attractive to potential investors. The "Brown Box," though only a prototype, had basic features that most video games consoles still have today: two controls and a multigame program system.
The "Brown Box" could be programmed to play a variety of games by flipping the switches along the front of the unit, as can be seen in the picture. Program cards were used to show which switches needed to be set for specific games. "Brown Box" games included ping-pong, checkers, four different sports games, target shooting with the use of a lightgun and a golf putting game, which required the use of a special attachment. Sanders licensed the "Brown Box" to Magnavox, which released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1967-1968
patent holder
Baer, Ralph H.
inventor
Baer, Ralph H.
maker
Baer, Ralph H.
ID Number
2006.0102.04
catalog number
2006.0102.04
accession number
2006.0102
This metal thermos bottle was made by Thermos in 1964. The bottle has a red plastic cup lid with handle. The thermos features artwork from the television show Fireball XL5.
Description (Brief)
This metal thermos bottle was made by Thermos in 1964. The bottle has a red plastic cup lid with handle. The thermos features artwork from the television show Fireball XL5. Fireball XL5 was filmed using Supermarionation, a combination of animation and puppetry that was made famous by the show’s creators, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Fireball XL5 was another show that took advantage of the public’s fascination with space, as does this thermos, with its various images of rockets and space ships.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1964
maker
King Seeley Thermos
ID Number
2004.3009.13.02
nonaccession number
2004.3009
catalog number
2004.3009.13.02
This steel, glass and plastic thermos bottle was made by Aladdin Industries in 1967. It has a screw-on white plastic cup lid with handle and screw-on white plastic stopper.
Description (Brief)
This steel, glass and plastic thermos bottle was made by Aladdin Industries in 1967. It has a screw-on white plastic cup lid with handle and screw-on white plastic stopper. The thermos has a lavender background, with images of Twiggy modeling various outfits around the exterior.
Location
Currently on loan
Date made
1967
maker
Aladdin
ID Number
2003.3070.25.02
nonaccession number
2003.3070
catalog number
2003.3070.25.02
Rocky and His Friends was written by Ann McGovern with illustrations by Ben De Nunez and Al White, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1960, 2nd Printing in 1973.Like many of the other artists that worked on Little Golden Books, Ben De Nunez worked as an anima
Description (Brief)

Rocky and His Friends was written by Ann McGovern with illustrations by Ben De Nunez and Al White, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1960, 2nd Printing in 1973.

Like many of the other artists that worked on Little Golden Books, Ben De Nunez worked as an animator at Disney Studios from 1955 to 1961. Information on Al White is limited but we do know he worked at Disney at some point and was the “background” illustrator for Little Golden Books from 1959-1964. White’s illustrations for Little Golden Books includes, Top Cat, Ruff and Reddy and Bozo Finds a Friend.

The techniques used to create the 2-d images limited the animator who created images with strong, well defined outlines and flat colors, but with the more complex 3-d process used for book illustrations, the illustrator had more freedom and created characters that became part of the background, blending both techniques to create a more 3-d image. De Nunez was known as a character illustrator and White was a background illustrator. Despite the difference in artistic styles, both illustrators worked together to create a unified picture.

The introduction of TV into the home had great impact on American society and culture, and its impact on Little Golden Books was no exception. In the 19th century consumer products such as toys, books and games were already used as a tie-in to historical events, sports and famous people, and this phenomenon was expanded with the introduction of radio, movies and television. These new means of communication generated a whole new cast of characters and the impact on Golden Books was significant. A license with Walt Disney granted Little Golden Books the right to publish stories about some of Disney’s earliest creations, including favorites such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Sleeping Beauty. Moreover, the books began to feature television personalities like Howdy Doody, Roy Rogers and Captain Kangaroo, as well as popular Saturday morning cartoon characters like Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny and Huckleberry Hound. These new partnerships with Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera significantly reduced the development of original stories and instead the books featured stories taken from children’s television shows. This opened the flood gates to create consumer products associated with popular movie and cartoon personalities. This practice continues today and proves to be a very lucrative endeavor.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1960
maker
Little Golden Books
ID Number
1992.0634.041
accession number
1992.0634
catalog number
1992.0634.041
This toy gun proves that target-shooting games were part of video game history from the very beginning.This lightgun was used to play the Target Practice game on the “Brown Box,” a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system.
Description
This toy gun proves that target-shooting games were part of video game history from the very beginning.
This lightgun was used to play the Target Practice game on the “Brown Box,” a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. Magnavox licensed the Brown Box and released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. The lightgun and four target games were later sold as a separate expansion package.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1967-1968
patent holder
Baer, Ralph H.
inventor
Baer, Ralph H.
ID Number
2006.0102.06
catalog number
2006.0102.06
accession number
2006.0102
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dotty Dripple comic strip shows the title character’s son rushing back to college, leaving her with empty-nest syndrome.Buford Tune (1906-1989) started working as an assistant to the art editor of the New York Post in 1927.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dotty Dripple comic strip shows the title character’s son rushing back to college, leaving her with empty-nest syndrome.
Buford Tune (1906-1989) started working as an assistant to the art editor of the New York Post in 1927. One of his first assignments was to revive an old family comic strip called Doings of the Duffs. After a brief hiatus Tune returned to comic strip production in 1931. He created Dotty Dripple in 1944.
Dotty Dripple (1944-1974) was a domestic humor-themed comic strip like the popular Blondie strip. Dottie was described as a typical housewife responsible for her children, Taffy and Wilbert; her dog, Pepper; and her husband, Horace. Part of the running humor of the strip was that Horace was often seen behaving like a child himself. Between 1946 and 1955 the strip was also sold in comic book form by Harvey Comics.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-09-12
graphic artist
Tune, Buford
publisher
Publishers Newspapers Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22530
catalog number
22530
accession number
277502
This original artwork, for pages 6 and 7, was used for the book Bullwinkle, written by David Corwyn with illustrations by Hawley Pratt and Harry Garo. It was published by Little Golden Press, in 1962.Hawley Pratt (1911-1999) was an illustrator, animator and film director.
Description (Brief)

This original artwork, for pages 6 and 7, was used for the book Bullwinkle, written by David Corwyn with illustrations by Hawley Pratt and Harry Garo. It was published by Little Golden Press, in 1962.

Hawley Pratt (1911-1999) was an illustrator, animator and film director. He began his career as an artist for Walt Disney Studios in 1933 and after the Disney animators’ strike in 1941, Pratt joined Warner Bros. Cartoons. While at Warner Bros., Pratt worked with renowned animator Isadore “Friz” Freleng on Freleng's Oscar-winning cartoons including Tweety Pie, Speedy Gonzalez and Birds Anonymous. Pratt is often credited as the creator of the animated Pink Panther character portrait. He later went on to direct or co-direct episodes of The Pink Panther cartoons for television.

Harry Garo (1923-1994) worked as an illustrator in 1926 for American Stories, the first American magazine devoted totally to Science Fiction. Known for its sensational covers, this series helped define the genre known as “pulp fiction,” named for the poor, irregular quality of the paper used for printing. In the early 1960s Garo worked on a few Golden Books with Hawley Pratt, including Bullwinkle, Bullwinkle the Hero and Bullwinkle and the Fireman. Garo also illustrated a series of books known as the VIP series, educational books for the juvenile reader exploring different occupations that deal with various modes of technology and transportation such as farmers, railroad engineers and bus drivers. He even illustrated a book for teaching students how to read a map.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1962
maker
Pratt, Hawley
Garo, Harry
ID Number
1992.0634.092.04
accession number
1992.0634
catalog number
1992.0634.092.04
This original artwork, for pages 14 and 15, was used for the book Bullwinkle, written by David Corwyn with illustrations by Hawley Pratt and Harry Garo. It was published by Little Golden Press, in 1962.Hawley Pratt (1911-1999) was an illustrator, animator and film director.
Description (Brief)

This original artwork, for pages 14 and 15, was used for the book Bullwinkle, written by David Corwyn with illustrations by Hawley Pratt and Harry Garo. It was published by Little Golden Press, in 1962.

Hawley Pratt (1911-1999) was an illustrator, animator and film director. He began his career as an artist for Walt Disney Studios in 1933 and after the Disney animators’ strike in 1941, Pratt joined Warner Bros. Cartoons. While at Warner Bros., Pratt worked with renowned animator Isadore “Friz” Freleng on Freleng's Oscar-winning cartoons including Tweety Pie, Speedy Gonzalez and Birds Anonymous. Pratt is often credited as the creator of the animated Pink Panther character portrait. He later went on to direct or co-direct episodes of The Pink Panther cartoons for television.

Harry Garo (1923-1994) worked as an illustrator in 1926 for American Stories, the first American magazine devoted totally to Science Fiction. Known for its sensational covers, this series helped define the genre known as “pulp fiction,” named for the poor, irregular quality of the paper used for printing. In the early 1960s Garo worked on a few Golden Books with Hawley Pratt, including Bullwinkle, Bullwinkle the Hero and Bullwinkle and the Fireman. Garo also illustrated a series of books known as the VIP series, educational books for the juvenile reader exploring different occupations that deal with various modes of technology and transportation such as farmers, railroad engineers and bus drivers. He even illustrated a book for teaching students how to read a map.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1962
maker
Pratt, Hawley
Garo, Harry
ID Number
1992.0634.092.08
accession number
1992.0634
catalog number
1992.0634.092.08
We Help Daddy was written by Mini Stein with illustrations by Eloise Wilkin, and published by Western Publishing Co. in New York, New York, in 1962.A Graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Eloise Wilkin (1904-1987) studied illustration.
Description (Brief)

We Help Daddy was written by Mini Stein with illustrations by Eloise Wilkin, and published by Western Publishing Co. in New York, New York, in 1962.

A Graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Eloise Wilkin (1904-1987) studied illustration. In her early years she worked as a freelance artist in New York City, illustrating schoolbooks for children learning to read, paper dolls and puzzles. She was married and raising a family in upstate New York when she started working from home creating illustrations for Little Golden Books in 1946. A prolific illustrator, Wilkin's work is easily identifiable for her adorable images of children with round faces and rosy pink cheeks. It is reported that she modeled her characters on her own family members and friends. Her beautifully detailed settings and backgrounds demonstrate her meticulous research and attention to detail. Her depiction of the idyllic home and family life reflected the post war optimism of the 1950s. She worked for Little Golden Books until 1984 and continued to design dolls for Vogue and Madame Alexander.

A stalwart Catholic, Wilkins was much attuned to the awakening social conscious of the 1960s. In 1964, the National Urban League, headed up by Whitney Young, brought attention to what he considered a fundamental omission on the part of the juvenile publishing world who he accused of racial stereotyping. Indeed, there were no children of color depicted in this vast category of books, but Eleanor Wilkin was one of the first illustrators to include an integrated classroom in We Like Kindergarten.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1962
author
Stein, Mini
illustrator
Wilkin, Eloise Burns
publisher
Western Publishing Co., Inc.
maker
Western Publishing Co., Inc.
ID Number
1990.0375.25
accession number
1990.0375
catalog number
1990.0375.25
Original artwork, of pages 20 and 21, for the book Huckleberry Hound written by Ann McGovern with illustrations by Al White, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1961.Information on Al White is limited but we do know he worked at Disney at some point and was th
Description (Brief)

Original artwork, of pages 20 and 21, for the book Huckleberry Hound written by Ann McGovern with illustrations by Al White, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1961.

Information on Al White is limited but we do know he worked at Disney at some point and was the “background” illustrator for Little Golden Books from 1959-1964. White’s illustrations for Little Golden Books includes, Top Cat, Ruff and Reddy and Bozo Finds a Friend.

The introduction of TV into the home had great impact on American society and culture, and its impact on Little Golden Books was no exception. In the 19th century consumer products such as toys, books and games were already used as a tie-in to historical events, sports and famous people, and this phenomenon was expanded with the introduction of radio, movies and television. These new means of communication generated a whole new cast of characters and the impact on Golden Books was significant. A license with Walt Disney granted Little Golden Books the right to publish stories about some of Disney’s earliest creations, including favorites such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Sleeping Beauty. Moreover, the books began to feature television personalities like Howdy Doody, Roy Rogers and Captain Kangaroo, as well as popular Saturday morning cartoon characters like Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny and Huckleberry Hound. These new partnerships with Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera significantly reduced the development of original stories and instead the books featured stories taken from children’s television shows. This opened the flood gates to create consumer products associated with popular movie and cartoon personalities. This practice continues today and proves to be a very lucrative endeavor.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1961
maker
White, Al
ID Number
1992.0634.091.11
accession number
1992.0634
catalog number
1992.0634.091.11
This tin, plastic and glass thermos bottle was manufactured by Thermos in 1963, and is the companion bottle to lunch box object number 2001.3100.13.01. It has a screw-on, red plastic cup lid and a red and tan, screw-on plastic stopper.
Description (Brief)
This tin, plastic and glass thermos bottle was manufactured by Thermos in 1963, and is the companion bottle to lunch box object number 2001.3100.13.01. It has a screw-on, red plastic cup lid and a red and tan, screw-on plastic stopper. The bottle features scenes of the Mercury space mission, with the rockets blast-off, orbit, and atmospheric re-entry.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1963
maker
King Seeley Thermos
ID Number
2001.3100.13.02
nonaccession number
2001.3100
catalog number
2001.3100.13.02
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Moon Mullins comic strip shows Mullins going to a therapist because he's being seen as procrastinating at work. The session is unsuccessful, however, as Mullins persists in his easygoing work habits.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Moon Mullins comic strip shows Mullins going to a therapist because he's being seen as procrastinating at work. The session is unsuccessful, however, as Mullins persists in his easygoing work habits. Included in this story board is Ferd Johnson's "topper" strip Kitty Higgins, about the young and clever girl who later became a Moon Mullins character.
Ferdinand "Ferd" Johnson (1905-1996) took a job in 1923 assisting on Frank Willard's new comic strip Moon Mullins. In 1925 Johnson started drawing his own Sunday comic called Texas Slim, and a few years later he launched Lovey-Dovey. In 1958 Johnson took over Moon Mullins which he continued until its cancellation in 1991.
Moon Mullins (1923-1991) was about a hard-living, would-be prizefighter nicknamed Moon. The strip offered storylines and personality characteristics which were appealing to readers during the Prohibition era. Moon Mullins was reinterpreted as a radio show and was regularly included as an animated television presentation on the 1970s Saturday morning cartoon program Archie’s TV Funnies.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961-10-22
graphic artist
Johnson, Ferd
publisher
News Syndicate Co., Inc.
ID Number
GA.22589
catalog number
22589
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Blondie comic strip shows the title character cooking a big dinner for her family, which they all enjoy and praise.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Blondie comic strip shows the title character cooking a big dinner for her family, which they all enjoy and praise. Blondie is left disappointed when everybody disappears once it comes time to clean up.
Murat Bernard "Chic" Young (1901-1973) began working as a comic artist in 1921 on the strip The Affairs of Jane. The strip was published by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. A few years later Young was hired by King Features Syndicate to draw the strip Dumb Dora, which ran until 1935. Young had modest success with other strips, but his debut of Blondie in 1930 far overshadowed his other artistic products. He drew the strip until his death in 1973.
Blondie (1930- ) is portrayed as a sweet, if not featherbrained, young woman whose 1933 marriage to the affluent Dagwood Bumstead made national news. The strip followed the young couple after Bumstead’s parents disowned him because of their aversion to Blondie. The strip continued to gain in popularity after the introduction of Blondie and Dagwood’s two children, Alexander and Cookie.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-02-24
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22395
catalog number
22395
accession number
277502
Mr. Merryweather, created and drawn by Dick Turner (1909-1999), was a companion strip to his other comic, Carnival. The comic was distributed by the Newspaper Enterprise Association from 1940-1972.
Description
Mr. Merryweather, created and drawn by Dick Turner (1909-1999), was a companion strip to his other comic, Carnival. The comic was distributed by the Newspaper Enterprise Association from 1940-1972. The comic was based on the humor and humiliations of everyday life in a small town. In this strip, Mr. Merryweather deals with restaurant culture in five individual gag-joke panels.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
06/19/1966
publisher
NEA, Inc.
graphic artist
Turner, Dick
ID Number
GA.22525
catalog number
22525
accession number
277502
Original artwork, of page 14, for the book New Brother New Sister, written by Jean Fielder with illustrations by Joan Esley, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1966.Marjorie Joan Esley (1904-2000) was born in upstate New York and showed a proficiency for art
Description (Brief)

Original artwork, of page 14, for the book New Brother New Sister, written by Jean Fielder with illustrations by Joan Esley, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1966.

Marjorie Joan Esley (1904-2000) was born in upstate New York and showed a proficiency for art at a young age. She attended the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (now known as RIT) and the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. During her time at RIT she became close friends with a fellow student, Eloise Wilkin, who also became an illustrator for Little Golden Books. Esley, worked as a freelance artist illustrating children’s readers for school textbooks, as well as drawing for the Girl Scout Magazine and the Post. Esley contracted with Little Golden Books to work on New Brother, New Sister and Play Street, both written by Esther Wilkin, sister-in-law of fellow illustrator, Eloise Wilkin. In addition to her work as an illustrator, Esley went on to author and illustrate several books of her own.

The concept of the "here and now” as seen in New Brother, New Sister, was Golden Books attempt to introduce and link children to everyday life experiences. Promoted in home advice columns as well as advertisements, this book and others like The New Baby, were early attempts to help 2-5-year old children welcome the new sibling to the family. The theories behind progressive education stressed the need for intellectual, personal and emotional development in order to create a well-rounded individual.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1966
maker
Esley, Joan
ID Number
1992.0634.094.15
accession number
1992.0634
catalog number
1992.0634.094.15
What do you do after you invent the video game? Try to make it better!While preparing their video game system prototype, the “Brown Box” to be presented to potential investors, Ralph Baer and his colleague Bill Harrison created TV Game Unit #8.
Description
What do you do after you invent the video game? Try to make it better!
While preparing their video game system prototype, the “Brown Box” to be presented to potential investors, Ralph Baer and his colleague Bill Harrison created TV Game Unit #8. They wanted to demonstrate a more advanced technology that would allow the user’s paddle to determine, in the direction and speed of the game ball, when the two would collide. This would allow for games such as baseball and more realistic hockey game play.
This TV Game Unit #8 interfaced with the "Brown Box," but proved too expensive to pursue in these early stages. Since it was not going to be shown to investors just yet, it was never covered with brown wood grain self-adhesive vinyl to match the "Brown Box." A few years later, this technology was key when Baer and his colleagues started to design and build arcade games.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1968
patent holder
Baer, Ralph H.
inventor
Baer, Ralph H.
ID Number
2006.0102.07
catalog number
2006.0102.07
accession number
2006.0102
Original artwork, of pages 22 and 23, for the book Huckleberry Hound written by Ann McGovern with illustrations by Al White, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1961.Information on Al White is limited but we do know he worked at Disney at some point and was th
Description (Brief)

Original artwork, of pages 22 and 23, for the book Huckleberry Hound written by Ann McGovern with illustrations by Al White, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1961.

Information on Al White is limited but we do know he worked at Disney at some point and was the “background” illustrator for Little Golden Books from 1959-1964. White’s illustrations for Little Golden Books includes, Top Cat, Ruff and Reddy and Bozo Finds a Friend.

The introduction of TV into the home had great impact on American society and culture, and its impact on Little Golden Books was no exception. In the 19th century consumer products such as toys, books and games were already used as a tie-in to historical events, sports and famous people, and this phenomenon was expanded with the introduction of radio, movies and television. These new means of communication generated a whole new cast of characters and the impact on Golden Books was significant. A license with Walt Disney granted Little Golden Books the right to publish stories about some of Disney’s earliest creations, including favorites such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Sleeping Beauty. Moreover, the books began to feature television personalities like Howdy Doody, Roy Rogers and Captain Kangaroo, as well as popular Saturday morning cartoon characters like Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny and Huckleberry Hound. These new partnerships with Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera significantly reduced the development of original stories and instead the books featured stories taken from children’s television shows. This opened the flood gates to create consumer products associated with popular movie and cartoon personalities. This practice continues today and proves to be a very lucrative endeavor.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1961
maker
White, Al
ID Number
1992.0634.091.12
accession number
1992.0634
catalog number
1992.0634.091.12
Original artwork, of pages 22 and 23, for the book We Help Daddy, written by Mini Stein with illustrations by Eloise Wilkin, and published by Western Publishing Company, Inc.
Description (Brief)

Original artwork, of pages 22 and 23, for the book We Help Daddy, written by Mini Stein with illustrations by Eloise Wilkin, and published by Western Publishing Company, Inc. in New York, New York, in 1962.

A Graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Eloise Wilkin (1904-1987) studied illustration. In her early years she worked as a freelance artist in New York City, illustrating schoolbooks for children learning to read, paper dolls and puzzles. She was married and raising a family in upstate New York when she started working from home creating illustrations for Little Golden Books in 1946. A prolific illustrator, Wilkin's work is easily identifiable for her adorable images of children with round faces and rosy pink cheeks. It is reported that she modeled her characters on her own family members and friends. Her beautifully detailed settings and backgrounds demonstrate her meticulous research and attention to detail. Her depiction of the idyllic home and family life reflected the post war optimism of the 1950s. She worked for Little Golden Books until 1984 and continued to design dolls for Vogue and Madame Alexander.

A stalwart Catholic, Wilkins was much attuned to the awakening social conscious of the 1960s. In 1964, the National Urban League, headed up by Whitney Young, brought attention to what he considered a fundamental omission on the part of the juvenile publishing world who he accused of racial stereotyping. Indeed, there were no children of color depicted in this vast category of books, but Eleanor Wilkin was one of the first illustrators to include an integrated classroom in We Like Kindergarten.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1962
maker
Wilkin, Eloise Burns
ID Number
1992.0634.093.13
accession number
1992.0634
catalog number
1992.0634.093.13
Mary Worth, also titled Mary Worth's Family during the early 1940s, was famously drawn by Ken Ernst and written by Allen Saunders during the 1960s-1980s. It continues to be distributed by King Features Syndicate, although with new artists and writers.
Description
Mary Worth, also titled Mary Worth's Family during the early 1940s, was famously drawn by Ken Ernst and written by Allen Saunders during the 1960s-1980s. It continues to be distributed by King Features Syndicate, although with new artists and writers. The strip features the title character Mary, a former teacher and widow, in a soap-opera style storyline including the drama surrounding her apartment house neighbors. In this strip, Tony tries to divert Avonne's afternoon plans by asking his mother to serve his friends lunch, even though it is her afternoon off.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
08/21/1966
graphic artist
Ernst, Ken
maker
Saunders, John Allen
publisher
Publishers Newspapers Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22450
catalog number
22450
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing, prepared for the Gasoline Alley newspaper comic strip, shows character Walt Wallet being scolded for trying to walk Effie home.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing, prepared for the Gasoline Alley newspaper comic strip, shows character Walt Wallet being scolded for trying to walk Effie home. She waves goodbye, but Wallet sees little hope in her attentions.
Richard Arnold "Dick" Moores (1909-1986) worked as an assistant to Chester Gould on the Dick Tracy comic strip early in his career. Moores continued to work on other strips and branched out into animation and comic book illustration, working on titles such as Mickey Mouse, Scamp, Donald Duck, and Alice in Wonderland. In 1956 Frank King asked Moores to assist on the daily strip Gasoline Alley, which Moores took over completely after King’s retirement in 1959. When the Sunday artist for Gasoline Alley retired in 1975, Moores took over that work as well, and continued drawing the strip until his death in 1986.
Gasoline Alley (1918- ) originated on a black-and-white Sunday page for The Chicago Tribune called The Rectangle, a collaborative page with contributions by different artists. One corner of "The Rectangle," drawn by Frank King, was devoted to the discussions between four men about their cars, an impetus for the name of the strip Gasoline Alley. Within a year the strip began appearing in the daily newspapers. Gasoline Alley, whose original characters included Walt, Doc, Avery, Bill, and Skeezix, is noted for its use of characters who have continued to age naturally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-13
graphic artist
Moores, Dick
King, Frank
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22550
catalog number
22550
accession number
277502
Original artwork, of pages 14 and 15, for the book We Help Daddy, written by Mini Stein with illustrations by Eloise Wilkin, and published by Western Publishing Company, Inc.
Description (Brief)

Original artwork, of pages 14 and 15, for the book We Help Daddy, written by Mini Stein with illustrations by Eloise Wilkin, and published by Western Publishing Company, Inc. in New York, New York, in 1962.

A Graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Eloise Wilkin (1904-1987) studied illustration. In her early years she worked as a freelance artist in New York City, illustrating schoolbooks for children learning to read, paper dolls and puzzles. She was married and raising a family in upstate New York when she started working from home creating illustrations for Little Golden Books in 1946. A prolific illustrator, Wilkin's work is easily identifiable for her adorable images of children with round faces and rosy pink cheeks. It is reported that she modeled her characters on her own family members and friends. Her beautifully detailed settings and backgrounds demonstrate her meticulous research and attention to detail. Her depiction of the idyllic home and family life reflected the post war optimism of the 1950s. She worked for Little Golden Books until 1984 and continued to design dolls for Vogue and Madame Alexander.

A stalwart Catholic, Wilkins was much attuned to the awakening social conscious of the 1960s. In 1964, the National Urban League, headed up by Whitney Young, brought attention to what he considered a fundamental omission on the part of the juvenile publishing world who he accused of racial stereotyping. Indeed, there were no children of color depicted in this vast category of books, but Eleanor Wilkin was one of the first illustrators to include an integrated classroom in We Like Kindergarten.

Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1962
maker
Wilkin, Eloise Burns
ID Number
1992.0634.093.09
accession number
1992.0634
catalog number
1992.0634.093.09

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