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The Clarington Independent, Bowmanville, Saturday, December 24,1994 3 Historical Toys From Page 1 made note of the largest "aggie" he has ever seen. The marble is probably 100 years old and looks it too. There are pock marks and other disfigurements on the marble. There is also a baseball glove which looks like a small, flat pillow with a leather glove sewn to it. Jackman comments that he wouldn't want to catch a fly ball with it, but also said it was probably better than a bare hand. The glove is from "the turn of the century and was found in a wall at the contributor's home," Jackman said. The baseball glove is accompanied accompanied by an early baseball cap. Dolls for girls were popular. To help stretch pocketbooks and imagi nations, some flour companies printed printed their bags with doll faces and bodies for cost-conscious consumers. consumers. Jackman noted after people were finished with the bags, they would cut the figure out, sew the dolls up and then stuff them with wood shavings shavings or hay. Some of the toys in the display are familiar to most folks. There's a What could be more enjoyable than having the chance to talk about and be surrounded by toys before Christmas? Clarke Museum Curator Mark Jackman looks right at home here with the display of toys currently on view at the museum in Kirby. He is holding a piece of early folk art -- a chunky workhorse, workhorse, that he described as being an item that was "much loved" and played with a lot, judging by its ap- pearance.The display includes homemade toys including the Raggedy Ann doll on the CCM bicycle, flash cards from the 1880's, a baseball glove from the turn of the century and the largest marble you ever set your eyes on. The display has many toys from 1860 to 1960 and comes from three different collections. collections. pogo stick and wooden tinker-toys. "Music played a part in people's lives. The auto-harp was popular with people, since it was an easy instrument instrument to learn to play. Another popular instrument was the mandolin. mandolin. However, it wasn't as easy to learn to play as the auto-harp," Jack- man said. Photography became a popular hobby once the technology was available to the masses. Many people people have enjoyed a lasting love affair affair with photography. The Clarke Museum display has a large-format camera (1880s, and a smaller camera (circa 1920s to 1930s), plus a magna viewer and projector from the 1950s. Jackman explained that the projector projector was such that kids could project project favorite pictures onto a wall. The projector used a regular light bulb and mirrors. "By the 1950's, people were into home movies," Jackman stated. In fact, the Clarke Museum and Archives has acquired some home- movies from local residents and had them transferred onto video tapes. The tapes can be viewed at the museum. museum. "We have a home movie of the first Bowmanville Santa Claus Parade, Parade, the Bowmanville Centennial in 1958 and an Orange Lodge Parade," he said. Also on video are fragments of a baseball game, a picnic at the bluffs and other fragments of ordinary people's people's lives in the 1950's. In 1960, the explosion of plastic toys hit the marketplace. Jackman said, "farm sets with plastic animals were popular." The sets produced by the Marx Company are back in style, too, Jackman noted. The company has begun producing producing reproductions of the toys from 30 years ago. If collecting is a part of your life, i one of the hottest toy collectables is the plastic dinky toy. Other toys in the display include puzzle numbers. These are most interesting, interesting, as each number is a puzzle and consists of as many pieces as the number is. Fa - example the number three has three pieces. Jackman said educational toys have been around longer than some folks know. Felt boards have always been popular with the younger sets, and so have dolls like Raggedy Ann. The holiday hours of the Clarke Museum and Archives are today, Wednesday Dec. 21; Thursday, Dec. 22 and Friday, Dec. 23 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 24 from 9 a.m. to noon. Next week, the museum will be open on Thursday, Dec. 29 and Friday, Friday, Dec. 30 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Saturday, Dec. 31, the museum will be open from 9 a.m. to noon. The toy collection will be exhibited exhibited at the museum until March 1995. Just Window Shopping? mmgk? up ^KNOCKED Wj OFT YOUR FHT fc™)8v Our lowest Pisces V O J * à 'I ià i WM i J SAVE m OFF TICKET PRICE ON ALL DINING ROOMS & DINETTES WITH THIS AD . 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