Late 19th Century Toys - and a Giveaway

The books and TV shows which most often draw my attention portray settlers and people in transition. Characters who have more love than money, and where essential necessities came first. Toys made with whatever was on hand, such as a doll made with leftover fabric scraps, or a pair of stilts made with wood salvaged from the woodpile.

Two boys playing on stilts, ca. 1890-1916. Source: Glenbow Archives NC-39-293

In some of those stories, children with toys were usually from affluent families where children had time on their hands and more often than not, were spoiled. In my own childhood, we were raised with the ridiculous notion that your bank account dictated your character. I could write a sermon on that point of view, but I'd rather talk about toys.

In 1890, trains were crossing North America with rapid regularity and towns with amenities were springing up every 10 miles or so along the railroad tracks. Although the land was still being settled, a settler could find almost anything in a nearby town, including toys, and what wasn't readily available could be ordered by catalog.

Because I've already mentioned dolls, I wanted to show you an assortment of dolls ca. 1890s with a photograph held at the Glenbow Archives in Calgary, Alberta. There is no mention of what type of dolls, nor their age, but to my untrained eye, some of them look like ones you'd buy in a store due to their porcelain/bisque heads and hands.

Group of Dolls, ca. 1890s. Source: Glenbow Archives NC-22-43

Doll houses have been fashionable for centuries with females of all ages, with its size and construction dependent on materials and ability to create and furnish. A quick search on the internet shows doll houses in many museums built for noble and royal women with stunningly exquisite pieces. 

The following photograph is from the McCord Museum with the following information: "Special toys represent a microcosm of daily life. This doll's house, photographed for Captain Howard around 1873-74, is divided into four main rooms: the kitchen, dining room, parlour and bedroom or play room. The open front has four windows decorated with lace-like curtains, similar to those in the music room seen earlier. There are miniature mirrors on the sideboard and dresser, metal kitchen implements hanging on the wall and centrally suspended lights. Doll's houses give children ideas about how the domestic interior should be arranged and decorated, but are also owned as adult amusements."

Doll house, photographed for Captain Howard, Montreal, QC, 1873-74. I-96789.1 © McCord Museum

The Ladies' Home Journal included detailed instructions on making a doll house in the article, A Little Girl's Play-House. The article is too long to paste here, but it's available as part of a free eBook on GooglePlay. After downloading, find page 7 of the December 1887 issue. 

With thoughts of little girls in mind, I searched for one of my favorite childhood toys, the tea set, and chose this next modern photo of a tea set dated 1890-1920 which was gifted to the McCord Museum by Mrs. Raymond Caron.

Tea set, doll, 1890-1920, 19th century or 20th century, Gift of Mrs. Raymond Caron

Doll house, photographed for Captain Howard, Montreal, QC, 1873-74. I-96789.1 © McCord Museum

I love everything about this tea set, from its dainty design to its hexagon cups and saucers. 

The boy is this next photo has an assortment of books and toys, including what looks like lithographed blocks. I thought perhaps he'd be a good representative of a family with a little extra money to spend on toys until I realized he was the son of Charles Selby Haultain, Assistant-Surgeon for the North-West Mounted Police depot in Regina, Saskatchewan. As such, his father would have been higher on the pay scale than the average man, whether lawman, settler, or somewhere in between.

Robert Mitchell "Robin" Haultain with his blocks and other toys, Regina, Saskatchewan, ca. 1891-1894. Source: Glenbow Archives ND-37-3

My search for outdoor fun toys led me to look for photographs of kids and wagons which were difficult to make at home due to the metal parts. I thought perhaps I'd find metal wheels and a wood body, like the adult-size versions, but it seems the ones I found were all-metal construction except possibly for the handle. This particular one has the information that it was probably photographed in Montana.

Herbert and Phoebe Kimball hauling wood in their wagon, ca. 1890-1905. Source: Glenbow Archives NC-39-301

Of course, when you digest the content of the above image, you see that the children are doing chores with their wagon. If that's a doll on the wood pile beside the little girl though, perhaps she was able to give it a ride as they went along, or afterward. 

Portrait of Arthur Patterson blowing bubbles, Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, ca. 1897-1900. Source: Glenbow Archives NA-5733-10

I was surprised to find an image of a boy blowing bubbles dated ca. 1897-1900, probably because I associate bubble-blowing with dish-washing liquid and that doesn't strike me as something you'd find at the turn of the century. Location-wise, the Maple Creek area is across the border from Fort Benton, Montana which makes me wonder if they were blowing bubbles down there at that time, too. Would his bubble-making pipe be store-bought? 

Which brings us to a toy I always wanted, but never received as a child . . . the regal rocking horse. Like a doll house, expense depended on size, materials, and workmanship, although it required a skilled craftsman to carve it.

Master Thomas Crathern and rocking horse, Montreal, 1862, William Notman (1826-1891). Purchase from Associated Screen News Ltd. I-3702 © McCord Museum

There are many images of children and their rocking horses, most of them studio images like the glass negative shown here. I chose this one from the McCord Museum however, because it includes this tidbit of photographic history:
"If you look behind Thomas Crathern's feet, you can see a pole. In Miss Pominville's picture, did you notice a curtain draped behind her feet? That was to hide the base of the posing stand, against which both of them are leaning, to help them stay still for the photograph. Master Thomas must have had a harder time of it than Miss Pominville, because he is sitting on a rocking horse, which is made to move. The photographer has jammed one of the feet of the posing stand under the rocker on the far side, so Thomas has a hope of staying still." Source : In the Eye of the Camera [Web tour], by Nora Hague, McCord Museum

For the last image we have a rocking horse suitable for younger children. Although we don't use these any longer due to the safety aspect, I thought this type of rocking horse was more of a vintage style, rather than an antique. 

Lawrence and Watson Dunbar, west of Fort Macleod, Alberta, ca. 1893. Source: Glenbow Archives NA-2033-3

The images in this post are representative of items a person might find in a general store, mercantile, and emporium in the Old West. If not physically in the store, they could be ordered through a catalog.

In my novella, Love in Store, my hero has set up a toy corner in his Emporium where a person might find any or all of the items on this page, and then he has to defend his position of why he's selling them.

Other posts here on HHH that show more images pertaining to my Love in Store novella are:
- General Stores, Mercantiles & Emporiums
- Early Typists at Work

#Giveaway - If you'd like a chance to win a copy of The Secret Admirer Romance Collection which contains nine novellas including, Love in Store, leave a comment on this post before midnight, Sunday June 11, 2017. 

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Anita Mae Draper writes her historical romances under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details. Her Christian faith is reflected in her stories of forgiveness and redemption as her characters struggle to find their way to that place we call home. Anita loves to correspond with her readers through any of the social media links found at

www.anitamaedraper.com.

Readers can enrich their reading experience by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories at www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper.

The Texas State Penitentiary--And A Giveaway

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Authors often find themselves researching the strangest things. In my story, The Outcast’s Redemption, one of nine novellas in The Secret Admirer Romance Collection, I found myself needing to know details about where a prisoner would have been sent in Texas in the 1860’s. The answer was…the Texas State Penitentiary.

My hero, Lucky Tolliver, was a wayward young man who got himself into a fair bit of trouble in his youth. So much trouble, in fact, that he spent several years in this prison facility. What would life have been like for him, I wondered. To know that, I needed to research the history of the prison. Here’s what I found.

3rd Governor of Texas,
Peter Bell

In 1848, it was decided that Texas needed a prison, and the location of Huntsville, Texas was chosen. The first inmates moved into temporary cells in October of 1849 while permanent structures were being built. By 1853, the Texas Governor, Peter Bell, had discovered just how costly it could be to run a prison. To defray that cost, he built a cotton and wool mill on the prison property, to be manned by the inmates. This served two purposes. The first was to bring in revenue from the sale of the cloth created in the mill. The second was to teach the inmates a skill and the disciplined work ethic they would need to reintegrate into society. By the end of the 1850’s, the inmates were able to process 500 bales of cotton and 6000 pounds of wool per year into finished cloth.

Interestingly, the cotton and wool mill served another purpose during the early half of the 1860’s. It supplied the Confederate Army with cloth for uniforms during the Civil War. The army (along with some of the civilian population) purchased so much inmate-made cloth that the gross earnings exceeded $1 million.

Postcard depicting the South View of the Texas State Penitentiary

However, after the Civil War’s end, things changed in the West. Many soldiers from both the North and the South left their respective homes and traveled west to the frontier. Lawlessness increased, and as the only prison left standing in the Confederate states at the end of the war, this prison’s population exploded. The Texas government was nearly bankrupt, and the population of the state wouldn’t agree to a tax increase to pay for more prisons, so a creative solution had to be found. This ushered in the “convict lease system.”

The new system would have come about at exactly the time when my hero, Lucky, would have been at the Texas State Penitentiary—the late 1860’s and early 1870’s. So what was the convict lease system? It was a program that allowed private citizens to “lease” manual labor from the inmates of the prison. They could be hired to build the railroad, work private farms, or dig rocks in nearby quarries. Businesses which were hired to build out new prison cell blocks and remodel the existing buildings used inmates for the physical labor. Those inmates who weren’t leased to private individuals or businesses remained at the penitentiary to work the various mills and workshops like the cotton and wool mill located on the prison grounds. The goods made in those facilities were then sold on the open market for revenue to run the prison.

The view from within the prison walls, circa 1870.

So that was the snapshot of Lucky’s prison life that I needed. He would’ve been put to work, possibly outside the prison walls. That fact lent itself nicely to the fact that, during the course of my story, Lucky was a hard worker, trying with all his might to reform himself from his wayward youth and remake himself into an upstanding citizen. I’ll let you, the reader, decide if I accomplished the task of making Lucky’s transformation believable.

It’s Your Turn: Would you have been brave enough to hire prison inmates to work on your private farm or business had you had such an opportunity? Why or why not? Make sure to leave your email address along with your answer, and I’ll select one reader to receive an autographed copy of The Secret Admirer Romance Collection (drawing to be held on May 30).

The Secret Admirer Romance Collection

Declaring one’s love can be hard—even risky—especially when faced with some of life's greatest challenges. Separated by class, time, distance, and more, some loves must remain secret until the time is right. Instead, notes of affection, acts of kindness, gifts of admiration, and lots of prayer are circulated. From New England mansions to homestead hovels, love is quietly being nourished and waiting for the right time to be revealed. But when love can finally be boldly expressed, will it be received by love in return?

 Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

Jails Of The Old West--And A Giveaway

I’m so excited! My fourth novella collection with Barbour Books—The Secret Admirers Romance Collection—is coming out in a matter of days. DAYS! May 1 is the official release date. Last month, I told you a tiny bit about my heroine, Maisie Blanton, when I talked about where to eat out in the Old West. Remember, she’s a waitress in the town café.

This month, I’m telling you a bit about my hero. Lucky Tolliver is a hired hand at an area ranch. Only there’s a hitch to that. He’s also a former cattle rustler who spent time in prison for his crimes. As you might imagine, his past haunts him through the story, and he winds up spending a bit of time in the town’s jail.

But what were jails like in the Old West? Hollywood would have us believe that every western town had a jail—and a fairly modern one at that, a clean little facility with metal bars and comfortable bunks. Not so. Often, the jail facilities were one of the last things to be built when a fledgling town cropped up on the frontier. Some were cutting-edge and modern for their day. Others were quite crude. (Lest we forget just how crude—there was no indoor plumbing in that day so you can bet there was a rather unpleasant odor to such places).

 

In the mid-1870’s, Helena, Montana, had a very well-appointed jail. The town spent $11,000 to build a red-brick building with six jail cells, an exercise room, a kitchen, and sleeping quarters for the guards. In that day, it was quite modern and upscale.

Jails in the Southwest were often made of adobe since it was an inexpensive and plentiful building material. However, the problem with adobe was…prisoners could easily dig through adobe, thus making it easy to escape. Oops.

Again, Hollywood wants us to believe that each jail had a large barred window overlooking the outside. How many times did old westerns show someone breaking out their friends by using a rope to pull the bars from the window? Or a sidekick dropping a weapon through the bars? Perhaps some jails were like that, but…probably not many. In fact, some jails were simple boxes made of brick and metal with no windows at all, except for a few small air vents that allowed some tiny bit of air circulation. Just such a jail could be found in Truckee, California. The facility was built in 1875, and it was such a serviceable building that it wasn’t retired until the 1960’s.

So what did lawmen do if they didn’t have a jail? They got creative! The most straight-forward answer was to subject the prisoner to constant direct supervision by various armed deputies. But in many cases, the “jail” became a telegraph pole, a tree, a boulder, or any large, cumbersome, and/or immovable object that the local lawman could chain the lawbreaker to until he could stand trial or serve out his punishment. Can you imagine being chained to a tree, forced to sit in the elements, on display for all the world to see? That would be both embarrassing and uncomfortable.

Another option was to dig a deep pit in the ground, place wooden boards over the top, and make a trap door in the center of the boards. To make this one extra-secure, the jailer would sit on top of the trap door so no one got in or out of the pit without his knowing it. I’d hate to have been one of those jailed in a pit jail like this. With the boards across the top, they were relegated to sit in darkness until their trial or punishment was done. (And here’s an interesting fact. Billy the Kid and some of his outlaw buddies spent time in one of these pit jails in Lincoln, New Mexico).

So far, I’ve chosen to depict any jails in my stories in a rather Hollywood fashion, but don’t be surprised if one day, a pit jail shows up in my story, or I chain a fictional outlaw to a tree. Sounds like great fun to me.

It’s your turn: The Secret Admirers Romance Collection is my fourth release. As the title indicates, the stories all revolve around someone being a secret admirer of another. My other collections are The Oregon Trail Romance Collection (featuring couples going West on the Oregon Trail), The Convenient Bride Collection (featuring Marriage of Convenience stories), and The Courageous Brides Collection (featuring women acting courageously to save others from hardships or dangers). Of the four, which sounds most interesting to you and why? Leave me a comment, including your email address, and I’ll choose one of you to receive a copy of your choice of collection (it doesn’t have to be the one you named as the most interesting). The winner will be drawn on April 27, 2017.

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.