Books and Manuscripts

[Barnum, P.T.]
Barnum's Museum Learning Device
New York: C.C. Shepherd, (ca. 1880). Wooden box with functional wooden turning knobs and chromolithographic paper designs and movable parts; large lithographic label on bottom of box. From the Siegel Collection of Toys and Games, and with Herbert J. Siegel's label on lower box. Scattered light wear and tape repairs to paper. 10 x 11 x 2 in. (254 x 279 x 51 mm). Roomet, Educational Toys in America: 1800 to the Present, p. 134 (this very example)

A fine example of this charming and rare educational toy from P.T. Barnum's Museum, being a fully functional spelling and arithmetic game with movable pictures, words, and numbers. By turning the wooden knobs at the top of the box, the player engages moving colored pictures of a cow, a horse, a lion, sheep, goats, and other animals. Turning two knobs at bottom engages a series of printed questions on spelling and counting that can be answered by turning four smaller knobs that engage printed numbers--a clever way of disguising “the onerous task of memorization.” (Roomet). Illustrated on pp. 94-95 in Karen Louise Hewitt Roomet's Educational Toys in America: 1800 to the Present.