Kids' Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood

332 Pages·1999·33.577 MB·English

by  Gary Cross

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Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England
Copyright © 1997 by the President and Fellows
of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Second printing, 2001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cross, Gary.
Kids’ stuff : toys and the changing world
of American childhood / Gary Cross.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-674-89830-3 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-674-50335-X (paper)
1. Toy industry—United States—History.
2. Toys—Social aspects—United States.
I. Title.
HD9993.T693U63 1997
338.4′768872′0973—dc21 97-2655
Designed by Gwen Nefsky Frankfeldt
Play is the work
of children, and toys are
their tools. This is a truism of almost a century of child-develop-
ment experts. But toys have been far more (and less) than this. They
have told the young what the older generation valued and expected
of them. They have told parents that the young seek recognition
and freedom. And these messages transmitted through playthings
have changed dramatically over the years, mirroring the history of
childhood and childrearing. The commercial toy industry has facili-
tated, accelerated, and very often distorted this process. The history
of playthings in modern America tells us much about childhood
and the culture that surrounds it.
At no time in this history has there been more conºict about the
role of toys in the lives of children than today. Toys evoke memories
of adults’ own youth and can create bonds between generations.
But toys also produce anxieties that adults may be overindulging
the young. New toys often suggest that manufacturers are manipu-
lating children by creating unrestrained longings and values of
which adults may not approve.
I wrote this book to clarify these conºicting attitudes about toys
and to explain the change that has created these tensions. To do this,
I went back to the origins of modern American childrearing and the
birth of the modern American toy industry toward the end of the
nineteenth century. The impact of the manufacturing and marketing
of toys on child’s play is central to the story. So too are modern
ideas about raising children. But at the core of the book are the toys
that American children have played with over the last hundred
years. These playthings tell us much about the changing meanings
of childhood and parenting and also shed light on the history of
the modern consumer society.
When I began this project some colleagues may have thought I
was going through a midlife crisis or even a second childhood by
abandoning my “serious” scholarship for a “childish” topic like
toys. Others, especially my family, may have ªgured I was taking
revenge for having to endure a house full of toys for years. In fact,
I jokingly told my children that my new book would be called “Too
Many Toys: What’s the Matter with the Kids on Edward Street.”
But if I began with a sharply critical eye, my perspective became
more complex, subtle, and, I hope, more balanced as I went along.
In truth, this book grew out of a long-developing interest in the
social signiªcance of consumption and a belief that the critics of
American popular culture have failed to explain it. My years of
teaching courses in the history of American families made me
aware of how abstract and inadequate was our understanding of
twentieth-century parenting and childhood. A study of toys seemed
to be a good way of addressing both issues.
The research itself was a lot of fun. But there is little personal
nostalgia in the book. I do not collect toys, and I recall having few
as a child (although my mother might dispute this claim). Still, I
hope that this story of toys in modern America will help readers
reºect on their own childhoods as well as those of their offspring.
Historians are notorious for thinking and writing in isolation. I
am no exception. But a number of friends and colleagues led me to
new sources and fresh ideas. Librarians and curators at the Mar-
garet Woodbury Strong Museum—E. Scott Eberle, Christopher
Clarke-Hazlett, Carol Sandler, and Helen Schwartz—were espe-
cially helpful. Kristin Peszka and the Please Touch Museum were
most gracious in opening up their amazing collection of recent Toy
Fair materials, and Charles McGovern of the National Museum of
American History offered useful assistance. Participants in the In-
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ternational Toy Research Conference in June 1996 at Halmstad Uni-
versity in Sweden provided incisive criticism and wonderful en-
couragement.
Greta Pennell, Stephen Kline, and Brian Sutton-Smith gave me
ideas that found their way into the book in various ways. Peter
Pluntky and Kathy George provided a ªne array of photographs
from their collections. Among my fellow historians who read parts
of the work or gave me valuable insight or information are Dana
Frank, Miriam Formanek-Brunell, Ellen Furlough, Steven Gelber,
T. J. Jackson Lears, Roland Marchand, and Paula Petrik. Even
though I tried not to impose on my colleagues at the Pennsylvania
State University, somehow Gary Gallagher, Paul Harvey, Philip
Jenkins, Sally McMurry, Bill Pencak, Anne C. Rose, and Robert
Proctor provided criticism and useful information. Grants from
Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies and the
Research Ofªce of my college got me to libraries and paid for many
of the photographs. I am especially grateful to Ray Lombra, my
dean of research. Despite his number-crunching habits as an econo-
mist, he still found a way to support this book.
Joyce Seltzer at Harvard University Press was a wonderful part-
ner in this project, helping to shape the book in many ways. Cherie
Anciero and Camille Smith, also of Harvard, were wonderful col-
laborators. My wife, Maru, for years before I ever had any interest
in toys, understood what play and playthings mean to children and
families. Her insights have kept me focused. My visits to Wal-Mart
with my children, Elena and Alex, to do “toy research” have re-
minded me what this book is really about.
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Their Toys and Ours 1
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Modern Childhood, Modern Toys 11
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Shaping the Child’s Future 50

Freeing the Child’s Imagination 82
!
Building Blocks of Character 121
"
The Boomers’ Box of Toys 147
#
Spinning Out of Control 188
$
Making Sense of the Modern Toybox 228
Notes 241
Credits 273
Index 275