MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

A Message from the President

Warmest greetings to all,

How exciting it is that December is upon, us although every month of 2022 was unique, both in good and challenging ways. I have just come back from giving some guests a tour of the Kearney Mansion & Museum and the smiles and utterly astonished looks on their faces as they viewed our Timeless Toys trees were thoroughly satisfying. I hope you get a group of family and friends together and come visit this month – especially this coming weekend if you have “littles” who would like to have their Santa photo taken in a calmer and unique location. We are still accepting reservations for this weekend, but spots are filling quickly. Make sure your phones are charged and the lens of the camera is clean!

There is so much to see that some of the details behind the exhibit get lost as your young Miss or Mister tug your hand, beseeching you to move on to the Barbie or Lego tree without reading the description. So, with nostalgia in my heart for the days when my two munchkins would have certainly been excitedly dragging me around the Mansion, I would like to share some of the historical facts behind several of the most fascinating games and toys – but you won’t get photos of the decorated trees – you have to come out here to see for yourself! 

Most Monopoly players don't know that the game was originally the product of a passion for social and economic justice. In the late 1800s, a young woman named Elizabeth Magie was introduced to the writings of Henry George by her father. She eventually became one of many people who took on the task of trying to teach others what she had learned from studying Progress and Poverty and George's other works. Collaborating with friends, Elizabeth Magie created The Landlord's Game. She applied for a patent, which was granted on January 5, 1904. She explained that the game was to be a "practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences."

The Landlord’s Game was sold for a while by a New York-based publisher, but it spread freely in passed-along homemade versions: among intellectuals along the Eastern Seaboard, fraternity brothers at Williams College, Quakers living in Atlantic City, writers and radicals like Upton Sinclair.

It was a Quaker iteration that Charles Darrow copied and sold to Parker Brothers in 1935, along with his tall tale of inspired creation, a new design by his friend F.O. Alexander, a political cartoonist, and what is surely one of U.S. history’s most-repeated spelling errors: “Marvin Gardens,” which a friend of Darrow’s had mis-transcribed from “Marven Gardens,” a neighborhood in the Atlantic City area.

Magie sold her patent to Parker Brothers for $500 the same year, initially thrilled that her tool for teaching about economic inequality would finally reach the masses. Monopoly became a hit, selling 278,000 copies in its first year and more than 1,750,000 the next.

In 1948, retired schoolteacher Eleanor Abbott invented Candy Land in a San Diego hospital. Abbott had been diagnosed with polio and during her convalescence she was surrounded by children suffering from the same disease. The experience inspired her to create a game that would entertain children during a painful and lonely time in their lives. Candy Land was so popular among the young hospital patients that Abbott decided to pitch it to toy manufacturer Milton Bradley. It quickly became the company’s highest selling board game.

During polio outbreaks, kids left alone in hospitals without their parents would often be overcome with homesickness and feelings of abandonment. Candy Land offered them an escape into a fantasy world. Even children as young as three-years-old could enjoy the game since it required no reading or writing to play, only the ability to identify colors.

During the height of the polio epidemic in the 1950s, youngsters were prohibited from congregating at public pools, lakes or parks to prevent the spread of the disease. At a time when most board games were designed for all-family participation, Candy Land was particularly popular because it could be played alone by children who were confined indoors.

Although Candy Land started in a polio ward, the manufacturers of the “sweet little game for sweet little folks” never promoted its connection to the infamous disease. As for Candy Land’s creator, Eleanor Abbott never lost sight of her original goal for the game. She donated all the royalty income she received from Candy Land to charities dedicated to serving children in need.

Alphabet blocks were first conceptualized in the 16th and 17th centuries. English philosopher John Locke is closely associated with the popularity of the wooden alphabet block, based on his 1693 work Some Thoughts Concerning Education, which briefly makes mention of the general concept behind the alphabet block. Locke, however, was not the first person to make the case for blocks to be used in this way.

The person who perhaps deserves credit for formulating the concept is Sir Hugh Plat, the English writer who wrote of the idea in a 1594 book of inventions titled The Jewell House of Art and Nature.

Certainly, these early endeavors helped forge the existence of the alphabet block, but someone had to make a market for its wide use by young children around the globe. Nobody was more responsible for that than the 19th-century German educator, Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel, who designed a series of educational toys he called “gifts;” a series of ever-more-complex materials designed to spark creativity among kids. Many of Fröbel’s “gifts” took the form of square or rectangular blocks that worked together in a complex system, introducing forms of spatial play over time.

But while Fröbel set the groundwork, it was an American lithographer and board game manufacturer who would help carry the torch in the United States. That man’s name was Milton Bradley. In 1870, Bradley’s namesake company came out with a set of building blocks based on Fröbel’s work called Bradley’s Original Kindergarten Alphabet and Building Blocks.

Today, children learn to play, stack, sort, spell and socialize with ABC Blocks.

The exact details of the origins of the Raggedy Ann doll and the related stories created by Johnny Gruelle, are not specifically known, although numerous myths and legends about the origins have been widely repeated. Gruelle’s wife, Myrtle, reported, it was her husband who retrieved a long-forgotten, homemade rag doll from the attic of his parents’ home sometime around the turn of the twentieth century before the couple’s daughter was born. Although the incident is unconfirmed, Myrtle Gruelle recalled, “There was something he wanted from the attic. While he was rummaging around for it, he found an old rag doll his mother had made for his sister. He said then that the doll would make a good story.” Myrtle Gruelle also indicated that her husband “kept the doll in his mind until we had Marcella. He remembered it when he saw her play with dolls … He wrote the stories around some of the things she did. He used to get ideas from watching her.”

On June 17, 1915, shortly after submitting his patent application for the doll’s design, Johnny Gruelle applied for a registered trademark for the Raggedy Ann name, which he created by combining words from two of James Whitcomb Riley poems, The Raggedy Man and Little Orphan Annie. Gruelle soon gave Raggedy Ann a brother named Raggedy Andy, and through the years the two floppy rag dolls acquired many other storybook friends. All inhabitants of a very special world, where dolls come alive and enjoy magical adventures when no mortals are present or in Gruelle’s familiar words, “the real-for-sure people were gone or fast asleep.”

As this famous toys jingle once cheered: “A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing! Everyone knows it’s Slinky.” The coiled toy certainly is a marvelous and simplistic thing. In 1943, mechanical engineer Richard James was designing a device that the Navy could use to secure equipment and shipments on ships while they rocked at sea. As the story goes, he dropped the coiled wires he was tinkering with on the ground and watched them tumble end-over-end across the floor. James chased after it without a second thought. But he did have a second thought - perhaps this would make a good toy.

Richard James went home and told his wife, Betty, about his idea. In 1944, she scoured the dictionary for a fitting name, landing on “slinky,” which means “sleek and sinuous in movement or outline.” Together, with a $500 loan, they co-founded James Industries in 1945, the year the Slinky hit store shelves.

At first, people didn’t know what to make of the Slinky. How could a bundle of wire be a toy? The Jameses managed to convince Gimbel’s department store in Philadelphia to let them do a demonstration during the Christmas shopping season in 1945. There were 400 Slinkys stocked that day, and they were gone in less than two hours—selling for $1 each, or about $14 in today’s value.

When the Slinky was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2000, more than 250 million had been sold to date. The story of the Slinky serves as inspiration for the next generation of inventors to create and be inspired by the simplest things.

OK, there is so much more but I truly hope you will come visit the trees at the Mansion and give yourself time to read the accompanying stories. Visiting guests will surely have a lovely experience as well.

While we don’t hear reindeer on our roof out here at Kearney, (it is more likely to be a bat, squirrel or swallow), the Happiest of Holidays to all. And a wonderful 2023 to everyone.

With a grateful and joyful heart,

Elizabeth Laval

President, Fresno County Historical Society

P.S. There is plenty of time left to join the FCHS as a member – become a History Hero and help your Society start the New Year strongly!

CHRISTMAS AT KEARNEY OPEN NOW THROUGH DECEMBER 31st

This holiday season, the Society will bring magic back to the Kearney Mansion Museum & Gallery with our annual display - Christmas at Kearney. The Mansion has been filled with decorated trees, each representing a local decorator's interpretation of a treasured toy for our Timeless Toys theme.

Now through New Year's Eve, guests will learn the history of classic toys, each of which are more than 50 years old, still loved by children today. Many listed in the Nation Toy Museum's Hall of Fame. Additionally, guests will tour the Kearney Mansion and learn the story of M. Theo Kearney and the Fruit Vale Estate. Special events planned during the month are selling fast with only a few spaces left for our Meet & Greet with Santa. The annual Holiday Tea has sold out.

Many thanks to our local decorators and organizations that have brought their creativity and talent to decorating our trees this year: Susan Kampsen, Carli White, Marisela Hernandez, June Boyce, Marilyn Fields, Kathy Burk, Darden Architects, The Cultural Arts Rotary, Kat Nielsen, Julie Harrison, Amanda Welsh & Karen Olson, Andrea Bendure and Lori Hunter, Elizabeth Laval & Avery Laval.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND SECURE YOUR TICKETS

December 3rd & 4th from 10am to 3pm

Meet Santa at the Kearney Mansion Museum and create a unique family memory in a gorgeous setting this year. Bring your family to take pictures with our Victorian Santa and enjoy a self-guided tour of this historic home decorated with themed Christmas trees and antique toys that just might not be on your children's wish list! Hot chocolate & Christmas cookies are included with your admission this day as well. If you would like to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate, you will receive a free admission to the Mansion and Museum.

TICKETS & INFORMATION

ROOTS OF THE VALLEY:

CHRISTMAS ALBUM

Over the decades, clearly toys have changed so much. To many, the rapid evolution from kick balls and baby dolls to electronics and virtual reality does not necessarily constitute progress. Let’s take a look back at some holiday photos – but this time, focus on the toys around and under the trees. The most coveted gifts may now come in small packages for tots and teens, but is that better than a good old baseball mitt or bicycle from Santa? What do YOU think?

Claude Laval, Jr. gazes in wonderment at the gifts Santa has delivered including oranges – a sweet treat indeed. Note that candles provide the lighting for the tree – 1908. Pop Laval Foundation

Claude Laval, Jr. and sister, Virginia, enjoy a magical Christmas morning complete with tea set, scooter, tiny piano and steamship – 1910. Pop Laval Foundation

Young Miss Delk may seem unimpressed by the bounty surrounding her, but, most likely, Santa brought her everything on her list and more! 1918. Pop Laval Foundation

Gottschalk’s Santa and Helper Elves showcasing the most popular toys for girls and boys in 1916. Pop Laval Foundation

Now that we have fascinated you with amusements from the past century, let’s just take a look at some really interesting photos of celebrations across the decades…

San Joaquin Electric crew on the job – Christmas 1895  A.W. Peters Collection

Mrs. Knapp surrounded by holiday décor – 1909. Fresno County Historical Society Archives

Hotel Fresno Lobby at Christmas, December 11, 1930.  Pop Laval Foundation

Kiwanis Club Christmas Banquet  Pop Laval Foundation

Waiting in line to see Santa at the newly-opened Memorial Auditorium – December 17, 1937. Pop Laval Foundation

Eaton Family Christmas at the Einstein House, 1600 M Street – 1946. Fresno County Historical Society Archives

Certainly, the most poignant photo is this one taken at Camp Pinedale. The young soldiers are lined up at the Telephone Center waiting for their turn to call home on Christmas Day, 1949.  Fresno County Historical Society Archives

To all of you with loved ones near or far, a wonderful holiday season. We will be back with more intriguing Roots of the Valley stories in January!

DECEMBER ARCHIVES SPOTLIGHT

Hello friends of the Archives! This holiday season, Christmas at Kearney is featuring a Timeless Toys exhibit. There are thirteen beautifully decorated trees throughout the Mansion, each featuring a different timeless toy. This theme inspired me to share a story with you about a wonderful woman who donated her doll collection to the Archives.

As a child, Wanda’s family packed up all they had and moved across the country. A small trunk containing a few clothing items and a single doll was all Wanda could bring. Sadly, at some point during the journey west, her doll was lost. Many years later, after some abrupt life-changing events, Wanda’s doctor encouraged her to find a hobby that would bring her joy. Wanda was perplexed, she had spent much of her life working, raising her family, and caring for her mother, she did not have a clue as to what type of hobby to take on.

Then, at a yard sale one morning, Wanda saw a doll that appeared to be well-aged and well-loved. She picked it up, a smile creeping across her face, her husband later said he could see the memories flooding her mind. She put the doll down and moved on. Later that evening, her husband told Wanda he knew what her hobby should be. Interested in his idea, she asked what he had in mind. He told her about the doll at the yard sale that morning, and how that was not the first time he experienced seeing the love and joy on her face when she would find an old doll. He recommended that Wanda take on doll collecting and restoration. Wanda didn’t even know where to begin with this. She explained to her husband that, yes, she loved dolls but did not know where to even begin learning to restore antique dolls to their original beauty. Well, friends, that was not going to be a problem for our friend Wanda. Her husband did some research and found the Fresno Doll Hospital, where Wanda could learn the art of doll restoration.

Over the next several decades, Wanda and her husband went to yard sales, auctions, thrift stores; anywhere that she could find antique dolls to restore and give new life to. Wanda began collecting and even learned how to make dolls, winning several ribbons at the Fresno Fair over the years. As the decades went on, Wanda’s collection grew, she had collected every type and genre of doll you could imagine - original Cupie Dolls to antique porcelain dolls, to Barbies, to Raggedy Ann, to Cabbage Patch. Wanda collected an extensive array of hard-to-find Native American dolls, Japanese dolls, and Chinese dolls. Her love for finding those that were often worn, broken, discarded, or forgotten led to an extensive collection of thousands of loved and reborn dolls.

Into her nineties, Wanda’s dear husband passed. Choosing to move into a retirement community meant having to rehome her collection. Though many of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren took Wanda’s favorites from the collection, Wanda did not want her dolls to get discarded as they had long before. Wanda decided that the best place for her cherished collection would be at a place where they would be safely preserved and be able to be utilized for exhibits in the years to come - The Fresno County Historical Society Archives. Wanda, her family, friends, and I packed the dolls, sharing their stories. Wanda could remember each one including the condition it came to her in and what it took to restore it back to life. It is our honor to care for her collection, to keep it safe, and share it with you when the time comes to display her collection for an exhibit.

Happy Holidays friends!

TIMELESS TOYS

From the Collection of Rus Stolling

This month, we are so fortunate to exhibit portions of an antique toy collection on loan from longtime Society member, Rus Stolling. The incredible collection includes complete Erector sets and other classic toys dating back to the early 20th century. We are so pleased to be able to include these fun and classic playthings the Christmas at Kearney: Timeless Toys exhibit. There is even one set of toys that visitors can play with!

Here is an overview of what Rus set up for all to enjoy. Many thanks, Rus!.

Krazy Ikes
1930 – 1965

Created in the early 1930s by the Knapp Electric and Novelty Company (1895-1940s) Krazy Ikes was a wooden construction set from which children would “build a thousand funny things — all different” according to the creator’s literature. The notched and knobbed pieces representing human and animal bodies, heads and limbs, could be connected to make silly creatures called “Ikes.” Creations could be moved about and repositioned in any pose their creator desired.

In the 1950s, the Whitman Publishing Company, a maker of board games and puzzles, purchased rights to the toy and converted Krazy Ike production to plastics.

Lincoln Logs
1918 to the Present

John Lloyd Wright, son of the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, brought Lincoln Logs to market in 1918. Notched wooden “logs” allowed construction of early American buildings -- homes, forts, towers, or whatever a child could imagine. Instructions for the first set came with instructions to build “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood log cabin home.

The toy became instantly popular, and after several evolutions over 110 years, remains in production.

American Plastic Bricks by Elgo
1917 - 1962

While Elgo looks suspiciously like Lego, it was the Elgo Plastics, Inc, a division of the Halsam Poducts Company of Chicago, Illinois, who produced American Bricks in 1941. The Halsam name was derived from the first names of the company’s founders, Hal Elliot and Sam Goss. Thus Hal-Sam. Elgo was from their last names, Elliot and Goss. (Lego began making their interlocking plastic bricks in 1949.)

American Bricks were initially of wood. Plastic production started in the early 1950s. The “bricks” stack and interlock, but do not snap together to hold tightly. Pre-formed doors and windows in various sizes and configurations enabled kids to build anything they could imagine, as long as it was a brick building.

Halsam was purchased by Playskool in 1962.

Marx Toys, Louis Marx and Company

1919 - 1980

Brothers Louis and David founded Louis Marx and Company in New York City in 1919. Marx's toys included tinplate buildings, mechanical toys, action figures, dolls, dollhouses, toy cars and trucks, and HO scale and O scale trains.

One of their most popular toys of the 1950s were the walking toys. Caricatures of animals and people in various roles, when placed on an inclined ramp, would waddle comically from the top to its bottom.

The tin Frontier Cabin above was another of several architectural models produced by Marx. The cowboys and Indians around the cabin are by Lincoln Logs.

Erector
1910 to mid-1960s

Erector was America’s favorite metal construction set from 1910 to -1960s. With parts stamped from real steel plated with nickel or enameled in bright colors, boys could build their own toys.

Erector’s inventor Alfred Carlton Gilbert (1884-1961) was a sports medicine student at Yale, and a champion pole-vaulter who represented the United States winning gold in the 1908 Olympics in London. The legend is that on the way home one evening, he witnessed buildings being framed in steel girders. He wondered if boys would enjoy building with such materials if the materials could be miniaturized. At home he designed a variety of elements – girders plates, gears, wheels - with pencil, paper and ruler. He cut the parts from cardboard and took the cut-outs to a friend at a metal working shop who formed the parts for the Erector prototype.

From its kitchen table conception, the Gilbert Erector evolved into the sophisticated construction set that you see before you.

The A. C. Gilbert company became one of the largest toy producers in the world and was one of the first American manufacturers to include a cafeteria, an on-site doctor, and a child-care center for its employees.

Erector was purchased by Meccano in 1967 and remains on the market today under the name Erector, but with parts in Meccano configuration.

Making History Every Day: Top Toys of 2022

Squishmallows Mystery Box

What's better than one Squishmallow? Three of them. These plump stuffies are still ultra-popular with kids. (Adults agree, because Squishmallows actually won the Toy Association's 2022 Toy of the Year award.) This gift combines adorable toys with the element of surprise, so unwrapping this mystery box will be a holiday highlight. Inside the box are three surprise 8-inch plush toys, chosen at random.

Star Wars LOLA Animatronic Droid

If your child loves to imagine themselves in the Star Wars universe, enhance the magic with an interactive L0-LA59 (LOLA) droid. LOLA features over 45 light, sound and movement combinations and three different modes of play. Attach LOLA to the included stand in Hover Mode or put her in Companion Mode by attaching legs. On the Go Mode means she's zooming through the galaxy (with some help from you).

Bluey Ultimate Lights and Sounds Playhouse

Australia's animated dog family has our hearts. And with a line of fun, quality toys, they have our wallets too. Gift your little one hours of playtime with this new, interactive playhouse set. The large (17-inches tall and 30-inches wide) house folds up for easy storage, and you can pop Bingo, Bluey, Chatterbox and Nana in there plus all the accessories. When kids press the Octopus, lights and sounds are activated for leveled-up play. 11215 USA
347.422.024