Collection Highlights
Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the People of the United States
Date:
1858
Object Number:
LIB.KF4550.Z9.B76
SUPPORT THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Help us present groundbreaking exhibitions and develop educational programs about our nation's history for more than 200,000 schoolchildren annually.
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.
