Gadgetory

well the New York Historical Society has more toys than you could ever fit under a Christmas tree its journey collection which consists of over 11,000 toys from 1840 to 1960 but why do these toys belong in a museum we met with Mike Thornton and curator to learn why toys are sometimes more than just toys if you want to academically understand this collection you know yes they're toys but if you're really looking at toys you're looking at maybe toys are made by adults for children and so therefore they reflect adult values of the times that they were made and this was a steam-powered industrial world that the adults were working and living in and that their children were gonna grow up in and so in many ways toys are about preparing kids to be adults and so trains were a great way to teach the lessons of industry and steam power and that's how the fascination sort of started I want to ask about getting kids into the idea of like a museum culture a lot of it is a vital part of our mission when I come in and I see kids but you know they're little hands on the glass just in awe I just feel like we're planting the seeds to make future you know it's not necessarily if they all grow up and become curators or historians but that they grow up you know and that they're fascinated that there is this interest in the past kids need to understand the past to be citizens you know and what better way than to create inroads through play things so this holiday take a moment to consider any toys you purchase for loved ones think that they may one day be sitting on a pristine display under the scrutiny of school kids from the year 2100 these toys curator might say were made during the Internet age decades before the holodeck wars of 2262 you