Remember the toy lite-brite? How about slinkies, or matchbox cars? Items from our childhood can evoke a real sense of time, place and nostalgia. Now you can see all those classic toys, and more, at The Virginia Historical Society’s latest exhibit in Richmond.
Caroline Legros, with The Virginia Historical Society, says toys can stir up old memories.
“Every person that thinks back to their childhood and remembers a toy that occupied a special place in their hearts and their minds can you tell the stories where they were when they played with that toy or what was going on in the world when the toy was sitting next to them on the couch,” she says.
And in that way, they can also tell us a lot about history. Take for instance dolls -- always baby-like, always targeted to young girls.
“So this tells a pretty powerful story about what a girl was meant to be doing with her time if she was a child in the1950’s -- so this is a symbol of the sort of appropriate gender roles of a girl training to become a mother and caring for a child of her own," says Legros.
The exhibit highlights classic icons from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. It runs all spring and summer.
You can learn more here.