This billiard ball, a gift of the Celanese Corporation, is made of cellulose nitrate, a substance eventually known as "celluloid." John Wesley Hyatt, a printer, was encouraged to develop the new substance when he saw an ad offering $10,000 to the person who invented a usable substitute for ivory in billiard balls. Hyatt eventually achieved success with his new material, forming the Celluloid Manufacturing Co. in 1871, but never received the $10,000 award.
The ball is mounted on a walnut stand with a silver label stating, "Made in 1868 of Cellulose Nitrate, Celluloid. The Year John Wesley Hyatt Discovered This First Plastics Resin."
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by David Knox, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
The monotony of camp life was relieved by every variety of amusement that was known, or could be devised. During the periods of inactivity, base ball, cricket, gymnastics, foot races, &c., were indulged in to a great extent, and on holidays horse races, foot races, and other games were allowed. Sometimes the men would put up a greased pole, with a prize on the top, for anyone who succeeded in climbing up to it, and not unfrequently a pig would be turned loose with a shaved and greased tail, for the men to catch. Any grip but a "tail hold" was illegitimate, but he who seized and held the pig by this appendage, carried it off in triumph to his mess.
Cock fighting, however, was quite unusual, and seldom permitted, except when some of the contrabands incited their captured Shanghais, or more ignoble fowls, to combat. Such displays were always ludicrous, and were generally exhibited for the amusement of the mess for whom the feathered bipeds were intended. Horses and mules perished by hundreds from ill-usage, but with thin exception it would be exceedingly difficult to cite an instance of cruelty to animals in the army. Fowls, dogs, kittens, and even wild animals, were made pets of, and were cared for most tenderly. Sometimes a regiment would adopt a dog, and woe to the individual who ventured to maltreat it. Several of the Western regiments carried pet bears with them, and one regiment was accompanied by a tame eagle in all its campaigns.
All-American Glee Club. side 1: Rambling Wreck From Georgia Tech (track 1) Hail to Georgia (track 2) Cavalier Song/Virginia, Hail, All Hail (track 3); side 2: Carolina's Day (track 1) Hark! The Sound of Tarheel Voice/Here Comes Carolina (track 2) (Victor 26684), from the album, College Songs, Vol. 3 - Southern (Victor P 34). 78 rpm.
Sometime around her 17th birthday, Canadian Bernice Palmer received a Kodak Brownie box camera (No. 2A Model), either for Christmas 1911 or for her birthday on 10 January 1912. In early April, she and her mother boarded the Cunard liner Carpathia in New York, for a Mediterranean cruise. Carpathia had scarcely cleared New York, when it received a distress call from the White Star liner Titanic on 14 April. It raced to the scene of the sinking and managed to rescue over 700 survivors from the icy North Atlantic. With her new camera, Bernice took pictures of the iceberg that sliced open the Titanic’s hull below the waterline and also took snapshots of some of the Titanic survivors. Lacking enough food to feed both the paying passengers and Titanic survivors, the Carpathia turned around and headed back to New York to land the survivors. Unaware of the high value of her pictures, Bernice sold publication rights to Underwood & Underwood for just $10 and a promise to develop, print, and return her pictures after use. In 1986, she donated her camera, the pictures and her remarkable story to the Smithsonian.
The Nintendo Game Boy was released in 1989. It was a handheld video game console that combined aspects of Nintendo's successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) television video game console with their earlier handheld electronic games marketed under the name "Game & Watch." It contained an 8-bit Z80 processor with a monochrome LCD display and 4-channel stereo sound. Shortly after the introduction of the Game Boy, Sega and Atari released handheld games, the Sega Game Gear and the Atari Lynx. Both had superior color LCD displays but both also suffered from short battery life and limited game availability. Nintendo shipped over 100 million units of the Game Boy and its successor, the Game Boy Color around the world.
All original Game Boys were bundled with Tetris, an addictive game developed in 1985 by Russian mathematician Alexey Pazhitnov, assisted by Dmitry Pavlovsky and Vadim Gerasimov. As with the NES, game software was stored on removable cartridges, allowing users to switch games at whim. Nintendo also marketed a number of accessories with this version of the Game Boy, including a camera and printer attachment.
This type of wooden one-piece yo-yo was produced by the Duncan Toys Company from 1953 through the 1960s. It is white with four rhinestones embedded in each half. The stamped seal reads “Duncan Jeweled Tournament Yo-Yo, Tops.” The Duncan Jeweled was one of the best-selling yo-yos after World War II, inspiring other brands to produce their own jeweled examples.
This wooden spinning top was made by the Duncan Toys Company in the 1950s as part of a Campbell’s Soup promotion. It is red with a white plastic tip and has an image of the Campbell’s mascot "Soup Boy" in gold. It reads “A Duncan Brand Toy.” The top's string is wound around a separate string holder.
This plastic "Smothers Brothers" yo-yo was made by Playmaxx, Inc. in the 1990s. It has indented flat sides and a blue plastic design. Clear removable plastic disc seals on both sides. One side features a line portrait and the other a silhouette of the two performers. The Smothers Brothers were a comedy variety act who parlayed their song “Yo-yo Man” into a successful instructional video and yo-yo line.
This wooden yo-yo was made by Duncan Toys Company in the 1960s. It is black on one half and red on the other. A Duncan Beginners Yo-Yo, it is part of a line made since the 1930s. Yo-Yos from this line are usually wooden with pegged strings. This example features a very early image of Duncan's mascot “Mr. Yo-Yo.”
This jumbo-size wooden yo-yo was made by Royal Manufacturing Company in the 1950s. It is blue with a gold stripe, and features a red and yellow crown graphic meant to look like the Crown of England. A blue and white decal reads “Royal Tops Mfg. Co. L.I City. N.Y. King Size Yo-Yo.” Royal was a major mid-century maker begun by Filipino immigrant Joe Radovan.
This plastic yo-yo was made by the Duncan Toys Company in the 1950s. It is green with clear rounded sides. An insert under the sides has a graphic of a flying eagle and the text “Genuine Duncan Yo-Yo, Professional Para Campeonato, El Aguila.”
This trophy was awarded during Yo-Yo Contests during the 1950s. The trophy is a solid brass statuette of Duncan Toys Company mascot "Mr. Yo-Yo" atop a wooden base. The plaque reads “A Good Sport Always Wins, Genuine Duncan Yo-Yo Champion." Duncan held a variety of contests in conjunction with newspapers, retailers and other firms during this periods to generate publicity and interest in the sport.
This pressbook is for the 1958 Warner Bros. musical film Damn Yankees, directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen and starred Gwen Verdon, Tab Hunter, and Ray Walston. This pressbook was distributed to movie theater owners for the purchase of posters and other material as marketing tools for promotion of this movie.
Beginning in 1935, the Simplex Manufacturing Corporation of New Orleans made motorbikes, which were smaller and lighter than motorcycles. Their simple designs made personal transportation accessible to young people and adults. Owners found many uses for Servi-Cycles, including errands, pleasure rides, and package delivery using a three-wheeled model. Top speed was 40 miles per hour, and average cruising speed was 30 miles per hour. Postwar sales were strong, but Servi-Cycle sales declined in the 1950s because of the growing popularity of imported motor scooters. Simplex ended motorbike production in 1960 but made motor scooters until 1972, when the company went out of business.
Lawn darts (also known as jarts) were a popular backyard lawn game during the 1980s. This lawn dart set sold by DP Superdarts is composed of three yellow darts and three red darts, with two plastic circles as targets.
This developmental prototype for a whistling yo-yo was made by the Duncan Toys Company. It is made of stained wood with slotted pink and white plastic center pieces (diaphragms) attached to each half. There are eight small air holes on each side that produce a whistling sound when spun. Duncan’s previous whistling yo-yos were metal and manufactured by the Cayo Manufacturing Company. This example is likely an attempt by Duncan to self-produce a wooden whistler.