Small World: Toys, Dolls, and Games in New England is a one-day conference of eight lectures on the culture of children’s play in New England and adjacent areas of New York and Canada during the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. The conference opens with talks on the material culture of toys by fashion specialists, archaeologists, and historians who will discuss the making of high-style dolls, the distribution of toys in girls’ industrial schools, and toy-making during and after the Civil War. It continues with an examination of English emblematical books for children, printed board games designed for young minds, and the evolution of children’s libraries in the larger eighteenth century. The conference concludes with a look at the growth of the outdoor games of baseball and football in the face of “blue laws” and the military occupiers of Revolutionary Boston. Participants are invited to bring items from their collections for display and discussion. Papers from this conference will be published by the Dublin Seminar.

For more information, including a complete schedule, visit www.historic-deerfield.org.