Collection Highlights
Architect's Sign
Date:
ca. 1837
Object Number:
1953.197
Medium:
Wood
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
Hill's Alphabet Blocks
Object Number:
2000.284
Date:
ca. 1875
Medium:
Wood, paper
Dimensions:
box: 1 x 6 1/8 x 6 in. ( 2.5 x 15.6 x 15.2 cm )
Marks:
lithographed: on the box label: "HILL'S/ ALPHABET BLOCKS/ S. L. HILL WILLIAMSBURGH NY".
Description:
Set of eighteen square blocks painted red or white with numbers or letters painted on two sides; wooden box with an applied label with four children playing with blocks in a nursery with a mother looking on; label inscribed, "HILL'S/ ALPHABET BLOCKS/ S. L. HILL WILLIAMSBURGH NY".
Gallery Label:
First developed in 17th-century England, alphabet blocks were produced in New York by 1820. The first large-scale production of blocks was initiated in Williamsburg, New York (Brooklyn) by S. L. Hill, who patented his paper-on-wood spelling blocks in 1858.
Bibliography:
Hofer, Margaret K. "The Games We Played: The Golden Age of Board & Table Games." New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2003.
Credit Line:
The Liman Collection
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
