Play Things: Children's Racialized Mechanical Banks and Toys, 1880-1930

Play Things: Children’s Racialized Mechanical Banksand Toys, 1880–1930

Christopher P. Barton & Kyle Somerville

Published online: 21 February 2012# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Abstract The reproduction of racism and class-based oppression are taught tochildren through various cultural media, including toys and games. Between 1880and 1930, the popularity of racialized toys and banks were fear-based responses to theperceived encroachment by “foreign and exotic” migrations of African American,Chinese, Irish and Native Americans into the cultural landscape of white middle-classAmerica. This article analyzes how artifacts associated with children, such as me-chanical banks, clockwork figures, and other toys are part of a larger cultural structurethat viewed race and class as inseparable, and that these objects were essential in thedevelopment of a learned habitus that exposed white middle class children in theVictorian era to a racially and class oriented world. We argue that these objects reflectboth the times in which they were made, and illuminate the relationship betweenadults and a newfound emphasis on children and childhood, in which toys serves assymbolic mediators of culture.

Keywords Toys . Racism . Racialization . Victorian America

Introduction

Children and childhood have increasingly become a popular topic of archaeologicalresearch (i.e., Baxter 2005; Dommasnes and Wrigglesworth 2008; Lillehammer1989; Sofaer Derevenski 2000). Within historical archaeology, most of this researchhas centered on toys recovered from Victorian working-class archaeological contexts

Int J Histor Archaeol (2012) 16:47–85DOI 10.1007/s10761-012-0169-y

C. P. Barton (*)Department of Anthropology, Temple University, 1115 Berks Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USAe-mail: [email protected]

K. SomervilleDepartment of Anthropology, State University of New York at Buffalo, 380 MFAC- Ellicott Complex,Buffalo, NY 14261-0005, USAe-mail: [email protected]

(see, for example, Engmann 2007; Wilkie 2000; Yamin 2002). In this paper, weexamine toys that were made and sold specifically towards white, middle-classVictorian consumers and which depict racial stereotypes of African Americans, Irish,Chinese, and Native Americans, and, significantly, which are unlikely to be found intraditional archaeological contexts. While much work has been devoted to the stereo-types and motifs depicted on racial toys (i.e., Barrett 2003; Wilkinson 1974), less hasbeen done to explain these objects as the products of both cultural values and largersociocultural movements emerging in the United States during the late nineteenth andearly twentieth centuries. As items made specifically for children from a definedsocioeconomic middle class, and a “white” race, from what historical context do theseitems emerge, and how are they connected with larger social and demographicmovements? In what capacity do they serve as a medium of communication betweenadults and children, as an avenue of racial socialization? The purpose of this paper istherefore twofold. First, we seek to trace the emergence of these toys from a particulartime and place, the United States from approximately 1880–1930. Second, we willanalyze these toys as objects used by adults to expose children into a class based,racist culture. As the historian Doris Wilkinson (1974, p. 100) put it:

Play objects are not merely items for fun, but function directly and indirectly tomaintain existing beliefs and behavioral systems. They are not material trivialities…Both games and toys provide a looking-glass reflection of the larger society; andone cannot offer a meaningful commentary on these cultural artifacts withoutevaluating them in the broader network of the systems in which they were con-structed and in which they were played.

The Roots of Modern Racism

American constructions of racism solidified during the Victorian period (1837–1901),defined by years of the reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria (Howe 1977). These decadeswere a time in which the wonders and promises of technological progress coexistedwith the very real social problems associated with capitalism, industrialization andurbanization. Within the United States, the vast numbers of immigrants flooding intoAmerican cities resulted in a new awareness of the differences between middle classpractices and values, and those of the new immigrant populations. The constructionof the “white” race within American society was based on such migrations of peoplewho were phenotypically and cultural perceived as different from the white middleclass. In a world that was becoming less concerned with identifying people as beingeither “Christian” or “Non-Christian” the application of labels such as Red, Black,Yellow, or Irish were used to perpetuate inferiority in contrast to the “White” race inAmerica (Paynter 2001, pp. 134–135). This awareness, or “cultural self-consciousness”, as Howe (1977) terms it, is ultimately reflected in the toys depictingracial stereotypes that were produced during this time. Howe (1977, p. 24) furthersuggests that Victorian racism was a “tragic contradiction,” an amalgam of “tradi-tional ethnocentric habits” combined with nationalism and racism. This “tragiccontradiction” inherent in white Victorian culture manifested itself in hostility to-wards outsiders: that is to say, all those peoples and cultures that did not fit easily into

48 Int J Histor Archaeol (2012) 16:47–85

the tightly ordered (white, middle-class) Victorian cosmology. In addition, the devel-opment of Darwinism and eugenics based scientific perceptions of racially definedcategorizations perpetuated widely held ideologies of white racial and cultural supe-riority. The ability of social structures, such as racism, to reproduce over time is basedon the recreation of designed responses through subsequent generations (Orser 2007,p. 57–58).

Exposing children to racialized toys is but one facet of the white, middle-classAnglo-American habitus (Bourdieu 1977), intended to make children of the latenineteenth and early twentieth centuries maintain both unspoken and explicitly heldbeliefs on the superiority of their biologically defined “white race,” enabling childrento identify practices, beliefs and behaviors that were considered to be outside of whitemiddle-class America. When situations change, the responses and reactions to other“races” would continue to be products of the habitus of children who have beensocialized within the structures of racism. Further work is needed in uncovering howsuch oppressive structures are reproduced and modified through time and space. Inthe following sections we show how the mass production of racialized toys is part of alarge epochal structure reacting to migrations and perceived threats to “White,”middle class America.

There are a few points we wish to clarify before going further. Although we willsuggest that the high cost of these toys would have made them available predomi-nantly only to people with disposable incomes, that is to say, the white middle class,these objects lack a firm archaeological context, which precludes clear statements ofgender or class association and possession of the toys mentioned here. This includestheir ownership by the very groups which the toys presume to depict. Meaning isdependent on context, and because these objects have been pulled out of theircontexts of their original child owners, if they ever had a child owner at all, makeit extremely difficult to examine the role these toys played in dialogues of the (re)formation of identity between adults and children. That said, we believe that the“salvage principle” (Wylie 1996), wherein artifacts taken out of context can still beexcellent sources of information about past beliefs and practices, is a suitable defensefor both of these stipulations, and a defense whose suitability will become self-evident throughout the course of this paper.

Methodology and Data

Toys, in the modern sense of mass-produced objects made specifically for and usedexclusively by children, are products of the Industrial Revolution. The mass manufac-ture of toys in the United States began during the mid-nineteenth century, piggybackingupon technological innovations in other areas of industry. Sheet metal stamping, castiron manufacture, improved ceramic molding techniques, lithographic printing andcardboard making enabled the cheap and efficient mass production of a large varietyof toys such as dolls, trains, books and board games (Chudacoff 2007). Toy manufac-ture quickly became big business in both Europe (Ganaway 2007), and the UnitedStates: for example, in 1850, the number of toy manufacturers in the United Stateswas 47. By 1880, that number had nearly quadrupled to 173, and included now-familiar names such as Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers (Chudacoff 2007, p. 74).

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Toys serve as medium of communication between children and adults, and suggestand reinforce norms of behavior (Wilkie 2000, p. 105). Victorian toys were pro-foundly didactic objects, meant to reinforce notions of gender roles, moral values, anda strong sense of nationalistic pride (Somerville in press), and virtually all toys fromthis time were intended for children of one sex or the other (Calvert 1992, p.110–111). Ganaway (2007) suggests that mechanical toys symbolized middle-classnotions of order and, for mechanical banks in particular, the public sphere andcommerce; that is to say, very masculine ideals. As such, these toys were likely madeexplicitly for, and marketed towards, boys rather than girls.

As noted above, it is difficult to know precisely how these toys were collected anddisplayed by children in the past because they lack the controlled provenience oftraditional archaeological finds. To be sure, they have entered a new stage in theirlives from children’s playthings to relics coveted by adult collectors. Presumably,however, parents purchased these toys, especially mechanical toys, for special occa-sions. Parents would have discovered these objects in advertisements in popularmagazines, trade publications, and catalogs put out by merchants and manufacturers.The Shepard Hardware Company, discussed in greater detail below, even created full-color trade cards to promote their mechanical banks, a practice which other manu-facturers later copied (Norman 1982).

How these toys were played with, curated and displayed by a child owner is alsodifficult to discern. Board and target games were of course used by groups of individuals,but the use of mechanical toys are more difficult to distinguish, especially since mostVictorian children preferred toys of their own creation overmore formal, manufactured toys(see Calvert 1992; Chudacoff 2007; Croswell 1898; Mergen 1982). It is reasonable toassume, then, that because they were fairly expensive objects, they would be highlycurated objects as well. They perhaps would have been received at special occasionsand given a prominent place in the child’s room as a visual reminder of the prosperityof the child’s family, and would not have been brought outside where they might bedamaged. A high degree of curation may therefore explain why so many of theseobjects exist today and why so few end up in traditional archaeological contexts.

A sample database of 103 toys exhibiting racial caricatures or stereotypes wascompiled using data acquired from antique dealer and collectors’ websites, periodadvertising and catalogs, patent papers, and museum collections. From these sources,the data collected included toy type (i.e. mechanical bank), description of the toyfrom period advertising if applicable, name of the manufacturer (or distributor if themanufacturer is unknown), date of first manufacture/appearance in advertising, andprice. This data established the approximate temporal boundaries of the study, whichin turn enabled an examination of the sociocultural contexts in which these objectswere manufactured and used.

This is perhaps a nontraditional way of conducting a material culture study and, ofcourse, the reliance on auction and collectors’ sites necessitates the recognition thatthe objects found within were likely to have had multiple owners over the years, andtracing such a path back to its original child owner would have been impossible.However, the use of these sources was necessary for a number of reasons. Becausemany of these objects are collectors’ items, their value is contingent on their physicalcondition. As such, gaining permission for physical examinations was largely out ofthe question. However, the documentary evidence, in the form of the large number


and high quality of photographs present on these sources, was sufficient to analyzethese objects. In addition, collector and auction websites bring together a largenumber of toys into a single place. This greatly facilitated data collection, and manyof these objects would not have been found otherwise as neither patent informationnor were period advertisements readily available.

The breakdown of this 103 toy sample is as follows: 48 mechanical banks (46.6%)(three of which are mechanical/clockwork hybrids), four still (non-mechanical) banks(3.8%), 32 clockwork (windup) toys (31%), three mechanical push/pull toys (2.9%),four target shooting games (3.8%), five cap pistols (4.8%), three dolls/doll sets(2.9%), two costumes (1.9%), and two board games (1.9%). All of these toys rangein date from 1879 to 1934.

Based on the number of styles and their variants, the mechanical bank appears tobe the most common form of the racialized toy, and “is a peculiarly Americanphenomenon” (Lederer 1940). Although James Serrill is commonly credited withpatenting the first mechanical bank for a wooden bank with a “disappearing coinaction,” (Morphy 2007) it appears the very first patent for a mechanical bank wasgranted to Kellis Horde in 1867 (Horde 1867). The toy bank, a didactic object in itselfused to teach the virtue of thrift (Somerville in press), was an incredibly popular toywith over 600 different varieties and 280 mechanical variants produced between 1875and 1910 (Emerine 1941), with a minimum of 10,000 individual toys produced froma single mold (Lederer 1940).

As noted above, the mechanical bank is a product of nineteenth-century industri-alism, commonly made of cast iron which was a relatively new technology andcomparatively inexpensive to manufacture in large quantities, although other materi-als such as wood, papier maché, tin, and lead were also used (Morphy 2002). The vastmajority of mechanical banks were patented and produced by just three companies:the Shepard Hardware Company of Buffalo, New York, Connecticut, the J. & E.Stevens Company of Cromwell, Connecticut, and the Kyser and Rex Company ofPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania. According to Griffith (1963a), the J. & E. StevensCompany was the most prolific of these manufacturers, responsible for approximatelyone third of all known mechanical bank designs. However, the most prolific inventorof mechanical banks was Charles Bailey, a toymaker who designed or patented atleast 29 different banks, 10% of all known examples, including several banks withracial themes including “Darkey Fisherman,” “Chinaman in Boat,” “Dentist,” “Darkyand Watermelon,” and “Bad Accident,” and who also worked at J. & E. Stevens fornearly 25 years (Griffith 1963b).

Toy manufacture was a comparatively late enterprise for these companies, whowere engaged in the manufacture of tools, steam engines and industrial machinery(Once a Month Advertiser 1866). Shepard Hardware, in particular, did not beginmaking banks until 1882, prior to which they were makers of industrial machineryand steam engines. The company sold its bank line to other manufacturers, mostnotably J. & E. Stevens, in 1892, and that company continued to produce Shepardbanks for several more years, including the popular “Jolly Nigger” bank (Norman1982). Similarly, clockwork toys were produced by a comparatively small number ofmanufacturers, including the Ives Corporation of Bridgeport, Connecticut, the JeromeB. Secor Manufacturing Company, also of Bridgeport, and the Ferdinand StraussCorporation of New York City.


Despite their apparently large numbers, mechanical toys of all kinds were expen-sive (Cross 1997; Ganaway 2007; Museum of American Heritage 1998). Mostmechanical banks cost between $.45 and $1.15, excluding postage, and averagedapproximately $.85 and up. Indeed, the prices for these objects were considered“rather steep” for the times (The Antiques Journal 1961), making them available onlyto relatively affluent customers. (Briefly to compare, between October 1901 andSeptember 1904, the foundry workers at the J. & E. Stevens factory earned, onaverage, $1.92 a day for piecework based upon the weight of usable parts eachworker produced each month [J. & E. Stevens Ledger, 1901–04]. On the other hand,between January 1874 and August 1875, the eight female workers at the J. & E.Stevens factory who painted the banks earned $.97 while working between two andten hours per day [J. & E. Stevens Ledger, 1874–75].)

Interestingly, it was rare for the outward appearance of the bank to be patented.Almost always, it was the mechanism itself or any technical improvements to the actualmechanism of the bank which were patented. In fact, several patents of toys with racialthemes actually suggest other ways in which the outward appearance of the mechanismmight be presented. For example, in Alfred C. Rex’s 1884 patent application for the“Baby Mine” bank, which depicted a seated black woman spoon feeding a grotesquecaricature of a small black child, Rex noted that “If desired, the figures may beanimals in place of human beings, the essential feature being the feeding [action]”(Rex 1884). Similarly, James Bowen’s 1882 patent for his “Two Frogs” bank, inwhich a reclining frog threw a coin backwards into a larger frog’s mouth, shared itsmechanism with the “Paddy and the Pig” bank, also introduced in 1882 (Bowen1882). Likewise, the “Jolly Nigger” bank, one of the most popular banks, shared thesame mechanism with the “Humpty Dumpty” bank, which depicted a circus clown(Griffith 1975). Clockwork toys, those using gearing mechanisms to produce someform of movement or action without any further input from the child, were alsopopular. For example, 1921’s “Alabama Coon Jigger,” a black man doing a funnydance, sold 8 million units (Cross 1997, p. 99). As might be expected, clockwork toyswere even more expensive than banks, costing upwards of $4.25 for the “Freedman’sMechanical Savings Bank,” a hybrid mechanical/clockwork bank.

Discussion

The toys discussed in this article vividly illustrate the divide between what Baxter(2005, p. 46) terms the “imperial practices of adults” and the “native practices ofchildren.” Adults perceive toys much differently than children do. Children are muchmore fluid than adults in what they consider to be toys, and a stick found in the yard quicklyand easily becomes a sword or a magic wand. On the other hand, adults usually think oftoys as a rigid class of object which is made exclusively for and given to children (Calvert1992). Although Wilkie (2000, p. 100) is correct when she states that oftentimes“children’s artifacts are discussed as byproducts of parents’ attempts to instill valuesinto their children, not as statements made by children,” the practice of marketingdirectly towards children did not emerge until the twentieth century (Cook 2004, p.71; Jacobson 2008, p. 4). Therefore, these racialized toys are much more reflective ofadult views and values, and were made to appeal to adults who would purchase them.


On a deeper level, however, Victorian toys “reflected a culture that respected thepast, mechanical innovation and utilitarian objects” (Cross 1997, pp. 25–26), and,consequently, adult conceptions of what was fun and what a toy should be. Racializedtoys are no exception, and the preponderance of mechanical objects as a medium forracism deserves closer scrutiny. While mechanical figures date to antiquity (seeAsimov 1984; Bedini 2002), their transformation into toys, that is to say, objectsmade exclusively for children, and their eventual ubiquity reflects both a fascinationwith novelty and mechanical innovation (Cross 1997, pp. 25–26) and “the desire tosimulate life by mechanical means” (Bedini 2002, p. 1). This is reflected in periodadvertisements, which stressed the “lifelike” nature of the mechanical movements.Furthermore, toys with racial themes can be said to “deanimate a stereotype, to arrest[it], to render it in three-dimensional stasis, [and] fix a demeaning and/or romanti-cizing racism with the fortitude of solid form” (Brown 2006, p. 185). The form of themechanical toy, including banks, cap guns and clockwork toys, ensured that therecould be no room for alternative forms of play facilitated by the child’s imagination.The mechanism of these toys was such that the mechanical parts create a rigidity offunction, as each part of the mechanism fit together in a precise and specific way toproduce a desired action, and no other action or output besides that intended by themanufacturer was possible. Put another way, the fixed mechanical systems of thesetoys produced a fixed outcome: the “Jolly Coon Jigger” could ever only do a ganglyjig, “Paddy” could only ever take a penny off a pig’s nose, and the “RecliningChinaman” could only ever grin mischievously and flash five aces. The mechanicaltoy, therefore, was a contradictory object: it arrested the stereotype which it depicted,while simultaneously bringing it to life in a mechanical form, and served a utilitarianpurpose (conveying stereotypes about “outsiders”) while also retaining a sense ofnovelty. In short, the Victorian fascination with the mechanical, along with theVictorian fascination with children and childhood (see Calvert 1992; Cook 2004),came to join with the Victorian fascination with “The Other,” those peoples andcultures who did not fit into Anglo-American conceptions of social order.

In industrial capitalism, manufacturers are quick to capitalize on popular issues,and as objects of mass manufacture, toys are often highly topical, and can serve astemporal markers of the obsessions of popular culture (Strong Museum of Play2010). In this regard, toys are a sort of barometer and it is not coincidental that racialtoys were popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a time inwhich white culture was on the offensive against the intrusion of the “exotic other”onto the American landscape. Hence, racial toys also serve as temporal markers,reflecting undercurrents of popular attitudes towards immigrants and non-whites. Forthe projection of racialized images onto toys and mechanical banks the manufacturermust be able to reproduce a stereotyped representation of the group being depictedthat the audience can easily identify. In doing so the manufacturer of toys recreatesperceived phenotypic stereotypes as to how an Irishman, Chinaman, Negro, or Indianshould look and act, and were “designed to prompt negative emotions, feelings ofpower at abusing an outcast character, which was pictured as uncivilized, insignifi-cant, and foolish” (Cross 1997, pp. 98–99). The racialization of these groups,therefore, followed similar trajectories such as competition for employment, pheno-typic inferiority based on science, differences in religions and finally, differences insocial organization contrary to that of white middle class America.


Native Americans

Eight toys (7.6% of the total sample, see Appendix) show depictions of NativeAmericans. Beginning in the post-Civil War era and continuing well into the1930s, the depiction of Native Americans on artifacts intended for children repre-sented in two distinct forms in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: as violentheathens who were impeding the progress of White America and as the “noblesavage.” As the United States grew into a capitalist society that emphasized individ-uality and materialism as hallmarks of social progress, Native Americans becamestereotyped by middle-class white America as the antithesis of capitalism and main-stream values. The post-Civil War perception of Native Americans reflected raciststereotypes and ideologies of Native Americans as blood thirsty clannish savageswho were obstacles to the United States in fulfilling its Manifest Destiny. Thesebeliefs of the savagery of Native Americans are reproduced onto children’s toys in theform of shooting gallery targets (Fig. 1.) such as the Popgun and ExceptionalShooting games of 1923 and 1929, respectively, in which cardboard figures of NativeAmericans were included alongside safari animals as the targets for white children.

The second racialized stereotype of Native American to be projected onto children’stoys and banks is that of the defeated “noble savage.” This depiction finds its origins inthe Romantic Era and its rejection of rationality and industrialization. As Native people’spopulations decrease due to the actions of genocide conducted by the United Statesgovernment and the threat of these uncivilized hordes of heathens diminish; the stereo-type of the “Injun” begins to shift into a nostalgic remembrance of an era before the

Fig. 1 Exceptional values inshooting games, Sears andRoebuck, 1923. (Barlow 1998,p. 196)


industrialization. Defeated by white America’s encroachment onto the Great PlainsNative Americans came to be seen as pawns to be moved by the U.S. government. Thisis illustrated by “The New Game of Migration” (Fig. 2) in which the player moves agroup of Native Americans from one corner of the board to a reservation on theopposite. Thus, the child user learned that the proper place for Native Americans wasto be stashed away in a corner (or reservation), far away from the white world.

Native Americans also became emblematic of the imagery of the Wild West, alargely mythical construct of a open landscape free from the overpopulation, urban-ization and restrictions on personal liberties that came to characterize late nineteenthand early twentieth century America. Rather than violent obstacles to America’sprogress, Native Americans became a reminder of an unattainable past (Yellow Bird2004). The Noble Savage was in tune with Nature and free to live life in accordancewith the rules of the natural world. Hence, this imagery manifests onto children’s toysand other artifacts as reminders of a lost age of innocence and freedom. In the “Gameof the Wild West,” the iconic images of Native Americans and Cowboys on horse-back in the open plains followed the theories of cultural evolution put forth by LewisHenry Morgan and E. B. Tylor. Here, Native Americans were relics of a simpler timebefore the overburdens of industrialism had taken its lethal grasp on the GreatAmerican continent. Consequently, the production of Native American iconic repre-sentation in “Game of the Wild West” was based not only in Orientalist ideologies of“Us vs. Them” but also a fictitious view of the past.

Irish

A single toy, the “Paddy and the Pig/Shamrock Bank” mechanical bank, (.9% of thetotal sample) portray a stereotyped depiction of the Irish (see Appendix). Theracialization of the Irish is largely based on British constructions of the Irish beingan inferior, uncivilized horde (Brighton 2008; Orser 2007; Shackel 2003). Within theUnited States, Nativist attention on the Irish as a threat to White American was rootedin employment competition, biological evolution, and religious concerns over

Fig. 2 New game of migration board game (Marshall Field & Co., 1890–93. (Barlow 1998, p. 73)


Catholicism. Following the Great Hunger (Great Famine) beginning in 1843, almost2 million Irish migrants came to the United States in search of a new home. Themajority of Irish immigrants were poor rural farm workers with limited economic andsocial capital. Without industrial occupational skills, the Irish in America servedmainly as cheap labor or domestic servants. Such low paying jobs resulted in theIrish being forced into poor ghettos that subsequently became synonymous withcrime and unsanitary living conditions (Yamin 2002; Orser 2007; Shackel 2009).

In the mid-nineteenth century, it was widely held that economic and social hard-ships were the results of individual failings (see Howe 1977). Irish cultural practicesof communalism and lack of individual desire for progression were viewed by“White” America as contrary to American values (Orser 2007, pp. 89–92). Giventhat so many of the Irish individuals were categorized as being poor because ofperceived laziness and the willingness to work cheap, the Irish as a collective wereviewed as inherently linked to a lower race. In racializing the Irish as inferior, theprocess of confining them to the “lowest-paying, dirtiest jobs available” was madeeasier (Orser 2007, p. 92). In the middle of the nineteenth century, the Irish comprised87% of the free unskilled labor force in the U.S. (Brighton 2005, p. 109). As a result,during this period of economic depression that plagued the middle of the nineteenthcentury, the Irish were viewed as the scapegoats for the nation’s economic problems(Brighton 2008, p. 142). Because the Irish were denied admission into higher payingjobs they were perceived by White America as willing to work for wages on which nowhite man could maintain a high standard of living. During depressions and jobshortages, anti-Irish sentiment by Nativists centered on the perception that the Irishwould work for next to nothing and was, accordingly, a threat to white middle classAmerica (Orser 2007; Brighton 2005, 2008).

The connection between the Irish and African Americans was not only based ontheir low end positioning but also rooted in phenotypic stereotypes. Ignatiev (1995)documents Nativist references of the Irish being “niggers turned inside out” as well asAfrican Americans being “smoked Irish” (quoted in Orser 2007, pp. 89–90). Increating a connection between the poor Irish and African Americans, white Ameri-cans solidified and justified the subjugated position of inferior races through pheno-typic stereotypes. With the rise of scientific race based typologies the Irish came to beviewed as a subcategory of human that had yet to fully evolve. The British comparedthe Irish to white chimpanzees, and “the Irish were seen as the missing link betweenapes and humans, an idea that developed in the 1840s and did not die out until the1920s” (Shackel 2003, p. 4). The Irish phenotype of red hair, pale skin, largeprotruding brow ridge, and recessed chin was captured in toys such as “Paddy andthe Pig” (Fig. 3). These phenotypic stereotypes represented the Irish as uncivilized,brutish, and ape-like, and reaffirmed the notion that the Irish were not only inferiorbecause of their economic and social positioning but that such inferiority could bedemonstrated scientifically.

Finally, the last threat that the Irish signified forWhite America was their wide spreadpractice of Catholicism. As proclaimed in the Congregationalist Pacific in 1867, “TheRoman Catholic element in our population is certainly an element of trouble anddanger. A Class of people largely ignorant, degraded, and vicious is a burdensomeclass and demands care, patience, and watching,” (quoted in Paddison 2009, p. 512).Given the United States’ Protestant origins, the mass migration of Irish Catholics


represented an ever growing population that was viewed as being idolatrous, super-stitious and, most importantly, incapable of surrendering their loyalty from the Popeto the President (Brighton 2008; Orser 2007; Paddison 2009). In sum, “Irish Catholicswere thought to be part of a priest-controlled machine,” incapable of individual thoughtor action without the direction of the Catholic Church (Brighton 2008, p. 42). ProtestantAmerica became so engorged with Anti-Catholicism and Anti-Irish sentiment that“‘everything Irish’ was repugnant to Protestant Americans” (Orser 2007, p. 111).

However, at the turn of the twentieth century “the rise in the fortunes of some Irishmeant that the social position of the Irish in the United States was transformed, [and]by the end of the nineteenth century, when it was clear that the Irish were willing to beAmericanized, nativists began to view them as part of the white race” (Orser 2007, p.110). Much of the Irish ability to thwart marginalization through racialization wasbased on their own devaluing of other nonwhite races. In one political cartoon fromthe time commenting on the harsh treatment endured by the Chinese a stereotypicIrishman was depicted as the antagonist (Orser 2007, pp. 110–111, 155). In time,Nativist hostility towards the Irish was forgotten: As Griffith noted in his discussionof the “Paddy and the Pig” bank:

In closing, a rumor from some years ago that still persists here and there todayabout Paddy and the Pig…has to do with the period in which the bank was made.Supposedly some Irish Society members felt that the bankwas somewhat insultingto the Irish race and requested that production be stopped…It is a very attractive,clever savings device and it would take some stretch of the imagination to find it inpoor taste or any way derogatory toward the Irish (Griffith 1975).

The lack of toys depicting the Irish appears to coincide with the greater politicaland social clout achieved by the Irish through their support of the Democratic Party.The anti-“new” immigrant rhetoric of the Democratic focusing on groups from

Fig. 3 Paddy and the pigmechanical bank, 1882, J. and E.Stevens Co., Cromwell CT photocourtesy of < Live Aunctioneers.com>


eastern and southern Europe, and the migration of African Americans helped to shiftattention away from the non-white status of the “Irish” race (Orser 2007, p. 90).

Chinese

A total of ten toys (9.7% of the total sample) depict Chinese stereotypes (seeAppendix). Following the 1849 California Gold Rush, the migration of Chinese intothe United States aroused steadying ire until Nativist legislation through the ChineseExclusionary Act halted legal immigration. The vast majority of the Chinese popu-lation living in the U.S. was economically oppressed males who had fled Chinafollowing the Opium Wars (Orser 2007). As a result of such hardships many of theseChinese immigrants were employed as unskilled laborers working in mining campsor on railroads. At first, the Chinese were welcomed as a source of labor for thesparsely populated West. However, as the United States continued to fulfill itsManifest Destiny by populating the continent; the Chinese became viewed as a threat,embodied in the popular rallying cry of “The Chinese Must Go” (Farmer 1889, p.138; see also Griffith 1955).

Like that against the Irish, the racialization of the Chinese in the nineteenth centuryby “white” America was largely based upon three key factors: phenotypic stereo-types, religious difference, and employment competition. A recurring element thatwas used by toy manufacturers to make the consumer identify that the toy was of a“Chinaman” was the presence of the queue, the distinctive long “pigtail” worn byChinese men as a symbol of masculinity. Even though the practice of wearing thequeue was not a true phenotypic expression, it was a cultural practice that Americansviewed as a consistent marker of Chinese male immigrants. This is reflected in ourdata sample as well: of the ten toys depicting Chinese stereotypes, eight (80%) ofthem are of men with queues. Anglo-American culture so strongly stereotyped andobjected to the queue that in the 1870–80s several petitions by Nativist groupsdemanded that the United States government to outlaw the Chinese queue (Paddison2009, pp. 541–542). The unwillingness of male Chinese immigrants to conform towhite America’s views on hair length resulted in the widespread belief that theChinese were unable to ever become “true” Americans.

Another frequent threat perceived by White Americans of the Chinese was basedon religious practices. Anti-Chinese groups loudly proclaimed that “Chinese Pagan-ism Has, By Its Fruits[,] A Practical Immortality Fouler By Far Than That knownamong any European or Christian People,” (Nast 1871, quoted in Orser 2007, p. 155).Furthermore, the association of the Chinese with gambling, as depicted on the 1882“Reclining Chinaman” mechanical bank (Fig. 4), the point of which, Griffith (1959)suggests, was to show “the fact that the Chinaman holds all the aces and couldn’tlose,” also likely reflected both the religious and secular abhorrence of gambling,which was considered immoral in both spheres, and subsequently the belief that theChinese were incapable of good moral character. In a lecture entitled “White Man orChinaman-Which?,” Jesuit priest James Buchard resignedly remarked that “I havevery little confidence that any considerable number, if any one at all, of the Chinesepopulation will ever be converted to Christianity here (California)…This inferior race(Chinese); these pagan, these vicious, these immoral creatures, are incapable of rising


to the virtue that is uncalculated by the religion of Jesus Christ,” (quoted in Paddison2009, p. 506).

Finally, the most commonly uttered complaint against the Chinese in the VictorianEra was that “White” America viewed the Chinese as inferior based on employmentcompetition. Given the economic hardships endured by many Chinese immigrants asa result of both the Opium Wars then institutionalized American racism, the Chinesewere relegated to low-end economic employment, and the Chinese worker thereforebecame synonymous with the railroad industry, that is to say low paying, manuallabor. With the rise of union activism in the United States many companies usedChinese immigrants as strikebreakers, consequently infuriating white working-classAmericans who viewed the ever-growing Chinese community as a direct threat totheir livelihood, resulting in cries that the “Importation of Chinese Barbarians into theCountry Must Be Stopped by the Ballot or Bullet,’” (quoted in Orser 2007, p. 155).Nativist reactionary responses to the influx of Chinese labor included violence as wellas political action (Paddison 2009). The rise to prominence of the Know Nothingparty and their Nativist agenda brought the production of toys such as “The ChineseMust Go!” cap gun, (Fig. 5) which depicted a Nativist holding a Chinese man’squeue, and when the trigger is pulled the Nativist kicks the Chinese man in thebehind, setting off the cap in Chinese man’s mouth. Such toys taught children that notonly were the Chinese a threat but the use of political and physical force waswarranted to protect white America. For nineteenth-century America, race wasinseparable from class, and many toys from the time depict the Chinese as not only

Fig. 4 Reclining Chinaman me-chanical bank, J. and E. StevensCo., Cromwell, CT, 1882 photocourtesy of mechanical bankCollectors of America 2010

Fig. 5 Chinese must go cappistol, Ives Co., Bridgeport,CT., ca. 1879. Photo courtesy ofLive Auctioneers.com


being phenotypically stereotyped but also categorized into class based employment,which in turn reproduced a semiotic connection between the race and class andcreated a habitus of a race- and class-based social hierarchy.

African Americans

No racial group was depicted more frequently on Victorian children’s toys thanAfrican Americans, a fact reflected by our data sample: of the 103 toys, 83 (80.5%)depict African Americans (see Appendix). Indeed, “Of all the American populargenres using African-American imagery, children’s games have been among the mostuniformly negative” (Mercier n.d.). The process of African American racializationhas been discussed at length elsewhere (see, for example, Berlin 1998; Orser 1998,2004, 2007). While phenotypic differences played a major role in the racialization ofAfrican Americans, issues of stereotyped culture and class were also vital in theformation of the “Black” race.

Following emancipation, African Americans were still considered inferior towhites, an inferiority rooted in stereotypic phenotypes and class. When “scientific”applications of human evolution were applied to “the negro race” they, like the othergroups discussed in this paper, were deemed to be biologically inferior to the Anglo-Saxon race. As one observer of the time noted, “’The Negro is poor because he isblack; that is obvious enough. But perhaps more importantly, the Negro is blackbecause he is poor’” (quoted in Orser 2007, p. 46). African Americans were eco-nomically and socially oppressed by a white culture that create both informal andformal institutions of racism in attempt to keep African Americans from obtainingcapital. As a result of such racism and oppression African Americans were largelyemployed with in economically low end employment. Ten (12%) of the eighty-threetoys depict African Americans working in menial jobs such as washing, portering,and sharecropping. This projection onto the toys and banks of children not onlyreflects the stereotyped way an African should look; but also associated AfricanAmericans with low paying low status jobs. “The Negro Porter Pushes His Cart(1921)” and the game “Tip the Bell Boy (1929)” (Fig. 6) where the players shoot a

Fig. 6 “Tip the Bell Boy” targetgame, 1921. (Spero 1988, p. 66)


ball at representation of a black bell boy, are not only portrayals of the stereotypicalAfrican American job of manual labor and low paying” but were also responses bywhite America to the influx of African Americans migrating from the South intoNorthern urban areas. The “Great Migration” represented the exodus of severalthousand African Americans leaving the South in hopes of finding employment inthe factories of the North. Though many were refused jobs due to racism, this blackwave of migration represented a threat to middle class white labor. Hence, theprojection of African Americans on children’s toys reflects the “true” category ofemployment for African Americans (e.g., low paying manual labor).

Another example of note is that of a mechanical toy depicting an African Amer-ican woman holding a white child, aptly named “Old Nurse” (Fig. 7). Much likecontemporary depictions of Aunt Jemima, African American females were stereo-typed within class- and gender-based categories. Interestingly, although the set of1905 “Comical Head Shaking Dolls” includes a female Chinese doll, of the fourgroups discussed in this article only African American women are depicted in anysignificant number on toys, comprising six (7.2%) of the 83 African American toys.

Another toy showing the intersection of class and race is the “Moving AppleMan,” a “very comical toy. Represents cloth dressed negro sitting in apple cart, with

Fig. 7 Old Nurse clockwork toy(Barlow 1998, p. 66)


painted apples” (quoted in Barlow 1998, p. 139). Street vendoring is discussed byMullins (2000) as an African American practice used to combat the racism apparentin the workplace. In being self-employed as street vendors, African Americans wouldnot have to deal with the racial and overt economic hardship of those employed bywhites. As a result, whites commonly viewed black street vendors as being lazy andmischievous, creating a contrasting view of their ideas of white American values.This depiction of the Moving Apple Man (Fig. 8) is the embodiment of suchreactionary responses by white middle class America meant to socialize children intoideologies of racism and classism.

In their depiction on children’s toys African Americans were viewed as being lazy,greedy, mischievous, and jovial (Barrett 2003). A common theme is the portrayal ofAfrican Americans either dancing or playing musical instruments. For example the,“Old Colored Fiddler” possessed a “face and expression [so] natural and so funny,that they provoke laughter wherever shown. There is a ‘point’ to each, fun for old andyoung alike” (Marshall Field & Co. 1890–93, quoted in Barlow 1998, p. 85). Anotherwildly popular mechanical bank was the “Alabama Coon Jigger” (Fig. 9), “[a]realistic dancing negro who goes through the movements of a lively jig…Childrencan be influenced to save while amused” (quoted in Spero 1988).

The Jolly Coon Jigger exemplifies the intersection of economic and social habitusamong white, middle-class America at the time. Children were taught not only thevalue of economic capital in a capitalist society but also the reproducing stereotype ofthe jovial dancing African American-a race to be viewed by white children as theirsocial inferior. Much of the habitus of socialized racism manifested on children’s toysand banks was meant to poke fun at the different racial groups being represented. Inmaking African Americans appear as dancing fools with over-exaggerated physicalfeatures, a semiotic connection between the middle-class white children, the toy andAfrican Americans was created. Thus, the inferiority of African Americans was not

Fig. 8 Famous Alabama CoonJigger, 1922. (Barlow 1988,p. 85)


only based on class oppression but a socially constructed ideology of concrete racialdifferences.

Conclusion

As Baxter (2005, p. 40) notes, “The link between the social and material is inextri-cable, and material items do not constitute a separate superstructure to social worlds.”Toys are not simply objects for play, but are also a medium of communicationbetween children and adult. For Victorian America, ideologies of race and class wereinseparable (Roediger 1991). This juxtaposition of social constructs reproducedperceptions of white dominance within white Victorian America, of which theirremnants are visible today. The learned habitus of such oppressive ideologies arerecreated through time and space. We have discussed how the habitus of white,Victorian America was represented in the form of artifacts associated with children.Toys and mechanical banks are but one way to observe how children becamesocialization in to race/class based oppression, and such a medium of racism andits reproducing socialization can be readily observed within the archaeologicalrecorded. The mass production of toys and banks depicting racialized imagery showsthat in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there existed not only ademand for such products but that the people were well versed in the stereotypedrepresentations of the depicted racial groups. These toys and banks were reactions toperceived threats envisioned by white America in the form of migration movements,ideologies of racial purity, and employment competition from a distinct “Other.”

Wilkie (2000, p.101) observes that, “Within historical archaeology toys andchildren are a constant and recognizable component of the material record…thereforewe must ensure that we see these artifacts as more than playthings.” Racialized toyssay much more about the deeper cultural composition of late nineteenth- and earlytwentieth-century America in which these toys were created, and the adults whopurchased them, than the children who received them. Constructions of race and classsocial constructs reproduce ideologies of white superiority which contrast with“inferior races.” Such ideologies can still be easily observed today. Historical archae-ologists, in particular, are in an excellent position to uncover how such ideologies arereproduced and altered over time and space. Although Victorian racialized toys are

Fig. 9 Moving apple manmechanical toy, 1911. (Barlow1998, p. 139)


only one specific cultural medium of socialization, it is through this work that we cancreate discourse to see how such ideologies of racism persist in the present. In doingso, we hope to promote a better understanding of the development, reproduction, andalteration of the construction of race and identity in the United States.

Acknowledgments Chris thanks David G. Orr, the anthropology department at Temple, and my lovingwife Jess. Kyle thanks Sissie Pipes and Güner Coşkunsu. We jointly thank Robert L. Schuyler for hisguidance and support throughout our careers. Lastly, we give our sincere gratitude to Chris Fennell, ChrisMatthews, Charles Orser, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on various drafts ofthis paper.

Appendix

Native American Toys in Sample

Name: Chief Big Moon

Type: Mechanical bank

Description: Indian is sitting in front of his teepee holding a fish. The deposited coin releases springwhich causes a hidden frog to leap put of pond for the fish. The Indian pulls the fish outof the way when the frog jumps for it. Originally named “Indian Camp Bank”; name“Chief Big Moon” in very small letters on base

Manufacturer; J & E Stevens Company, Cromwell, CT

Date: 1899

Price ($): Unknown

Source: Machanicalbanks.org

Name: Columbus Bank


Description: “Place a coin in the slot at the feet of Columbus. Press the lever, and as the coin disappearsan Indian chief suddenly leaps from his place of concealment in the log, extending thepipe of peace as Columbus salutes him. The design is of historic interest. On one side, inbold relief, is the ship of Columbus, and on the other a mounted Indian hunter in fullchase of buffalo”.

Manufacturer: Carl P. Stirn, New York City

Date: 1893–94

Price ($): $8.00 per dozen

Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Indian Shooting a Bear/Bear Hunt Bank


Description: “An Indian Warrior is kneeling on one knee and takes aim with his gun and shoots the coininto the chest of a bear standing by a stump…The Indian is dressed in full regalia,feathers and all. Originally advertised as the “Bear Hunt Bank.’”

Manufacturer: J&E Stevens Co., Cromwell, CT

Date: 1883–88

Price: $0.85

Source: Machanicalbanks.org

Name: Indian Brave


Type: Still bank

Description: Indian warrior with headdress and tomahawk

Manufacturer: Unknown

Date: Unknown, probably twentieth century

Price: Unknown

Source: Mechanicalbanksonline.com

Name: Game of the Wild West

Type: Board Game

Description: Cowboys and Indians game

Manufacturer: Marshall Field & Company

Date: 1890–93

Price: Unknown

Source: Barlow 1998

Name: New Game of Migration

Type: Board Game

Description: Game of Migration is entirely new and original and is attracting much more than ordinaryattention, from the fact that it is one of the very few games now published which at onceawakens great interest among the players, and also holds them fascinated until the gameis closed.

Manufacturer: Marshall Field & Company

Date: 1890–93

Price: $5.35 per dozen

Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Exceptional Shooting Game Value

Type: Target game

Description: Eighteen snappily colored figures, consisting of lion, tiger, bear, elephant, buffalo, zebra,hippopotamus, loepard, war painted Indians and soldiers. Line them all up for your WildWest Show' then see who is the crack shot.

Manufacturer: Sears and Roebuck

Date: 1929–32

Price: $0.49

Source: Spero 1988

Name: Popgun Shooting Games

Type: Target game

Description: Break type popguns with corks, cardboard Indians and animals.

Manufacturer: Sear and Roebuck

Date: ca. 1923

Price: $0.39–0.59

Source: Spero 1988

Irish Toy in Sample

Name: Shamrock Bank/Paddy and the Pig


Description: Place the coin on the nose of the pig. Press the lever, and the pig will strike the coin with itsfoot, when the man will open his mouth, catch it on his tongue, and swallow it; at thesame time the eyes will roll, giving the face a pleased expression. One of the mostamusing banks out.

Manufacturer: J & E Stevens Co., Cromwell, CT


Date: 1882


Source: Mechanicalbanks.org

Asian (Chinese and Japanese) Toys in Sample

Name: Chinaman in Boat


Description: With Rat on tray in bow of boat. It is said that this bank was given as a souvenir at aconvention at Planters Hotel in either St. Louis or New Orleans. Press his queue andChinaman flips over table top, the other side showing Rat on tray, knife and fork, etc.,and “Dinner is Ready.” In another place “Hotel Yacht Free Excursion, Music by the Bandforward—when it is not seasick.”

Manufacturer: Charles A. Bailey, Cobalt, CT

Date: 1880s

Price: Unknown


Name: Reclining Chinaman


Description: “To operate the bank, a coin is placed in the pocket section of the Chinaman’s smock, thena lever located in the right end of the log is depressed. Simultaneously, the left arm raisesthe left hand to the face as the right arm moves forward exposing the hand of cards. Thehands are made to be movable and they fall into their respective positions veryrealistically. As the action takes place, the coin automatically drops through the pocketinto the bank.”


Date: 1882

Price: Unknown


Name: Shoot that Hat


Description: “A coin is placed in a provided slot in the water plug in front of the shoe-shine boy. Thecloth held by the shoe-shine boy rests against the coin and holds it in place. When thelever is pressed, the standing figure clamps the hat down onto the head of the seatedfigure. The top of the hat rises exposing the face of a Chinaman. Meantime, the head ofthe seated figure is forced downward causing the arms to rise. This releases the coin andit drops between the legs of the figure into a provided slot and on into the base of thebank.”

Manufacturer: Ives Co., Bridgeport, CT (possibly S.S and G.D. Tallman, New York City)

Date: 1882

Price: Unknown


Name: Chinaman Head

Type: Still bank

Description: Caricatured head of Chinese man, including queue


Date: Unknown

Price: Unknown

Source: Mechanicalbanksonline.org

Name: Coolie Wagon


Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “Runs in circle, figure raises head out of wagon, coolie shakes head.”

Manufacturer: Butler Bros., New York City

Date: 1925


Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Chinaman Pulls his Cart

Type: Mechanical pull toy

Description: “Nicely decorated in snappy colors to imitate Chinaman and cart. When wound up andreleased he walks along in a manner most lifelike, drawing his cart after him. The cart islarge enough for very small toys and he will pull them, too. Very interesting mechanicaltoy.”


Date: 1921

Price: $0.39

Source: Spero 1988

Name: Chinese Head Cap Exploder

Type: Cap pistol

Description: Single and double faced versions


Date: 1879–82

Price: Unknown


Name: Chinese Must Go

Type: Cap pistol

Description: A Nativist holding a Chinese man’s queue, and when the trigger is pulled the Nativist kicksthe Chinese man in the behind, setting off the cap in Chinese man’s mouth.

Manufacturer: Ives Co., Bridgeport, CT

Date: 1879

Price: Unknown

Source: Thetoyzone.com

Name: Shoot That Hat

Type: Cap pistol

Description: “This pistol is called Shoot That Hat, and this name appears on the barrel. Here the action isabout the same. A figure clamps a hat on a seated Chinaman and in so doing fires a papercap previously inserted inside the hat.”


Date: 1879–82

Price: Unknown


Name: Comical Head Shaking Doll

Type: Doll

Description: “Heads ‘wig-wag,’ giving them a most droll appearance. Boy, girl, and heathenChinee [sic].”


Date: 1905



Source: Spero 1988

Name: Mikado


Description: “We present this year a Japanese Magic Bank. Place the coin in the recess in the top of thecabinet, under the hat in the Mikado's right hand, and when the lever is turned the coinwill disappear, and reappear under the hat in his left hand, where it will remain untilanother coin is deposited, whent he first coin will drop into the bank. A sweet chime ofbells will be heard when the lever is turned.”

Manufacturer: Kyser and Rex, Philadelphia, PA

Date: 1887

Price: $0.95


Name: Doke’s Tea Party

Type: Doll set

Description: “A really wonderful little set at the price. Comprises three Japanese wicker chairs, table,and set china decorated dishes and three 4 1/2 inch Japanese dolls.”


Date: 1911

Price: $0.29

Source: Spero 1988

Africans/African American Toy in Sample

Name: African bank


Description: Stylized “African savage” head, similar in operation to “Jolly Nigger Bank”

Manufacturer: Uknown, probably German

Date: ca. 1907

Price: Unknown


Name: Always Did ‘Spise a Mule (jockey)


Description: “A most amusing bank, made of cast iron throughout. Place a coin in the rider’s mouth andtouch a spring. The mule’s heels are flung up, the rider is thrown over the mule’s head,and the coin is shot into the bank as the unfortunate nigger's head strikes the ground.”

Manufacturer: J E Stevens Co., Cromwell, CT

Date: 1879

Price: $0.95


Name: Always Did ‘Spise a Mule (bench)


Description: “Nicely painted and decorated, innocent-looking mule facing a darkey, touch the springand the mule whirls about suddenly and kicks the darkey over, throwing the coin from thebench into the receptacle below.”


Date: 1897

Price: $0.67



Name: Always did ‘Spise a Mule (English version)


Description: Similar to above

Manufacturer: John Harper and Co., Ltd, Willenhall, England

Date: 1902

Price: Unknown


Name: Baby Mine/Mammy and Child


Description: “Coin, which has been placed on a large spoon held in colored mammy’s hand, is fed intothe child’s mouth. When lever is pressed child kicks feet. Mammy nods her head andfeeds baby with a spoon.”


Date: 1884

Price: $0.85


Name: Bad Accident


Description: “Awonderful bank to sell. Place a coin under the feet of the driver, when the boy jumpsinto the middle of the road, the donkey is frightened and as he rears, the coin falls into thebody of the cart and disappears. The movements of all the figures are very lifelike.”


Date: 1888



Name: Bamboula


Description: Similar to “Jolly Nigger”

Manufacturer: Unknown, probably French

Date: 1895–1910

Price: Unknown


Name: Beggar Bank


Description: “Represents a one-legged negro with his hat between his hands begging. On dropping acoin into the hat, it instantly disappears, while the beggar nods his head inacknowledgement.”

Manufacturer: H. L. Judd Mfg. Co., Wallingford, CT

Date: 1879

Price: $0.80


Name: Black Joe



Manufacturer: G.L. Webster

Date: 1932–34


Price: Unknown


Name: Boys Stealing Watermelons


Description: “One boy is lying flat on the ground and the other is climbing over the fence. When boyreaches for a watermelon the dog charges. . . . The base represents a field of thewatermelon vine and green watermelon are plainly visible.”


Date: 1885–95

Price: $3.60 for 4


Name: Cabin Bank


Description: “Place the coin upon the roof above the negro’s head, move the handle of the white-washbrush, and the negro will be made to stand on his head and kick the coin into the bank.”


Date: 1885

Price: $0.54


Name: Chad Valley


Description: Decal of African American caricature on round bank, mechanical sticks out tongue toaccept coins.


Date: Unknown, mid-twentieth century

Price: Unknown


Name: Dapper Dan

Type: Clockwork/mechanical bank

Description: “Coon Jigger Bank or ‘The Jigging Banker.’ Wind up and insert coin and colored DapperDan dances a jig….Various other names such as "Thrifty Tom.”

Manufacturer: Louis Marx and Co., New York City

Date: 1925

Price: Unknown


Name: Darktown Battery/Base Ball Bank


Description: “Place the coin in the right hand of the pitcher and he throws the coin over the plate and thebatter strikes at it, the catcher misses it and the coin disappears between his knees, in thebreast protector. Name “Darktown Battery” on base.”


Date: 1888

Price: $0.90


Name: Darkey in Chimney



Description: Head of black man emerges from cabin chimney when coin is placed in slot.


Date: Unknown

Price: Unknown


Name: Darkey Bust


Description: Similar to “Jolly Nigger.”

Manufacturer: Unknown, probably German

Date: 1907



Name: Darky Fisherman


Description: “There is some wording on the bank and this is in raised letters across the base just to thefront of the boy’s feet. The statement “Dis Pond Am De Boss Place To Fish” appearshere.”


Date: 1880–85

Price: Unknown


Name: Dentist


Description: “A coin is placed in the left pocket of the dentist, the lever located at the feet of the figuresis then pressed. The figure of the dentist falls backward against the gas bag and the coindrops from his pocket into the bag which is the coin container. In the dentist’s right handis a pair of extractors and in these is a large tooth. As the dentist falls backward the negroalso falls over backward in the chair, throwing his arms up at the same time. The patientis fastened to the chair back and this tilts over with the figure.”


Date: 1880–90

Price: Unknown


Name: Dinah/Long Sleeve Dinah


Description: Similar to “Jolly Nigger” except woman

Manufacturer: John Harper and Co., Ltd, Willenhall, England

Date: 1911

Price: Unknown


Name: “Foot Ball” Bank/Darky and Watermelon


Description: “Place a coin in the Foot Ball, set the leg of the Old Darkey back in position, ready to kick,

press on the Spring on the Darkey's back; his foot will kick the Foot Ball, throw it over

the Water Melon, and the coin will be deposited.”



Date: 1888



Name: Freedman’s Saving Bank


Description: “One of the most ingenious, amusing, and useful toys of the season. Represents a coloredgentleman seated at a counter. Upon laying a cent or other coin within reach of his hand,and touching a spring, he first sweeps it into a hole in the counter which opens to receiveit, then raises his outspread hand to his nose and waves his fingers satirically, andconcludes with a derisive shake of the head, expressive of a determination to hold ontothe deposit. Anyone will willingly sacrifice a cent for the sake of seeing it ‘raked in.’”

Manufacturer: Jerome B. Secor Mfg., Bridgeport, CT

Date: 1880

Price: $4.25


Name: Greedy Nigger Boy


Description: “Similar to “Jolly Nigger”; “When coins are deposited negro rolls eyes and sticks outtongue.”


Date: 1907



Name: Hindu/Uncle Tom


Description: “Made of malleable cast iron. When the button at the back of the neck is pressed, the eyesroll up, and the tongue is thrust out for a coin, which is immediately swallowed.”


Date: 1882

Price: $0.85


Name: Inititating First Degree


Description: “A goat, darky and frog. The Darky is in a stooped position in the middle of the three. Coinis placed in the outstretched hands of the darky. The goat butts the darky in the rear,pushes him forward and he deposits the coin in the mouth of the frog which rises on itshind legs to receive it. Typical of the times when all secret lodges or fraternities weresupposed to use a goat to initiate its members.”

Manufacturer: Mechanical Novelty Works, New Britain, CT

Date: 1880–86

Price: Unknown


Name: Jolly Nigger


Description: “Made of malleable cast iron, finished in bright colors. Place the coin in the coloredgentleman’s hand and touch a projection behind the left shoulder. The coin is thrown intothe mouth, and the eyes roll upward while the tongue falls back.”

Manufacturer: Shephard Hardware Co., Buffalo, NY


Date: 1882

Price: $0.95


Name: Jolly Nigger with Butterfly Tie




Date: Unknown

Price: Unknown


Name: Jolly Nigger with High Hat



Manufacturer: John Harper, Ltd., England

Date: ca. 1902

Price: 52/8 per dozen


Name: Jolly Nigger Moves Ears




Date: Unknown

Price: Unknown


Name: Kicking Mule


Description: “[P]lace coin on bench, press lever, mule turns and upsets darkey, depositing coin”; similarto “Always Did ‘Spise a Mule” and “Jolly Nigger”


Date: 1921

Price: $1.75

Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Little Joe



Manufacturer: John Harper, Ltd., England

Date: 1924

Price: Unknown


Name: Little Moe



Manufacturer: Chamberlin and Hill, Ltd, Walsall, England

Date: 1930

Price: Unknown


Source: Liveauctioneers.com

Name: Little Moe with White Hat




Date: Unknown


Source: Griffith, 1958

Name: Sambo Bank


Description: “Just like “Jolly Nigger” except quite a bit smaller. Perhaps a son of the “Jolly Nigger”because he looks like him. The word “Sambo Bank” on back. The three banks “Sambo,”“Little Joe,” and “Little High Hat” are all the same except with name on each.

Manufacturer: William & H. H. James & Co. Willenhall, England

Date: 1918

Price: Unknown


Name: Stump Speaker


Description: “Design shown on Patent #13,401 for “Shoot That Hat” Bank, issued to Charles F. Richel,Bridgeport, CT, Nov. 7, 1882, specifying “a bootblack sitting on his box in front of astreet-hydrant, with outstretched hands holding a brush”; coin placed between hands andhydrant slips between knees into bank when another boy, standing behind, swings thehuge hat over his head; admits no coin larger than a nickel; top of hat rises as it goes overhead.”


Date: 1886



Name: Sonny Boy



Manufacturer: Robert Eastwood Starkie, Burnley, England

Date: 1920

Price: Unknown


Name: Thrifty Tom's Jigger Bank


Description: Similar to “Dapper Dan”

Manufacturer: Ferdinand Strauss Corp., New York City

Date: 1910

Price: Unknown


Name: Uncle Remus


Description: “Stealing chickens. Darky stands in chicken house in open door with sack of chickens inhand, when sprung door slams shut and Policeman jumps forward with lifted club, in


front of closed door. Fence around two sides. Hen runs across lot, press her tail andpoliceman starts after Remus who ducks back in. pulling door shut quickly.”


Date: 1891

Price: Unknown


Name: Weeden’s Plantation Darky Bank


Description: “This new mechanical toy is made of sheet metal in exact imitation of A PLANTATION

SHANTYAnd contains Clock Work, Main Spring, and Fan Regulator so arranged that

when a penny or nickel is pushed through the coin-safe opening, the Banjo Player will

“PICK ON DE OLE BANJO” While the ther Darky will DANCE A REAL BREAK-

DOWN In perfect time and with a great variety of life-like comical steps.” (bold in original)

Manufacturer: Weeden Mfg. Co., New Bedford, MA

Date: 1888

Price: $1.40


Name: Young Nigger


Description: “Similar to “Jolly Nigger”


Date: Unknown, probably twentieth century

Price: Unknown


Name: Picaninny

Type: Still bank

Description: “Please give me a penny. Made of malleable cast iron.”

Manufacturer: Unknown, probably English

Date: 1880s

Price: $0.25


Name: Sharecropper

Type: Still bank

Description: African American man with floppy hat and suspenders; similar to “Picaninny”

Manufacturer: A.C. Williams, Ohio

Date: 1910

Price: Unknown

Source: Mechanicalbanksonline.com; Liveauctioneers.com

Name: Alabama Coon Jigger/Tombo

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “Jigs like a real ‘COON.’ Extremely amusing and comical. Simply release the lever and the‘COON’ starts an old-fashioned plantation breakdown”


Date: 1910

Price: $0.60

Source: Antiquetoycollections.info


Name: Amos ‘n’ Andy

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Based on the popular minstrel show


Date: 1930–31

Price: $0.48–1.39

Source: Spero 1988

Name: Aunt Chloe/Washerwoman

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: African American woman washing clothes in tub


Date: 1880–85

Price: Unknown

Source: Prices4antiques.com

Name: Banjo Player

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Seated black man with banjo. Dressed in bold clothing with oversized bow tie. Whenactivated, stomps foot and moves body

Manufacturer: Jerome B. Secor Manufacturing, Bridgeport, CT

Date: 1876

Price: Unknown


Name: Black Minstrel Couple

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “Black Minstrel German mechanical toy. Truly a most unique and amazing toy featuring ablack woman playing a banjo accompanied by her gentleman caller adorned in a top hat.The mechanical mechanism with music (plink, plank, plunk) contained within the lady’shoop dress, the gentleman caller is attached in a most unique way to her skirt.”

Manufacturer: Unknown, possibly German

Date: 1885–1915

Price: Unknown


Name: Black Man Playing the Banjo

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “A German hand painted tin windup Black Man Playing Banjo toy, made by Gunthermann.Has plink-plink music when operating.”

Manufacturer: S.G. Gunthermann, Nuremberg, Germany

Date: 1880–1910

Price: Unknown


Name: The Boxers/Sparring Pugilists

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Two black men dressed in floppy clothing and hats (sharecroppers) fighting


Date: 1885

Price: Unknown



Name: Brudder Bones

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “The end man. A companion to “Poor Old Joe,” and equally laughable and life like.Waves hisarms to and fro, bending his body, and shaking his head in genuine negro minstrel style.”


Date: 1879

Price: $4.00


Name: Champion Dancers

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Dancing African Americans

Manufacturer: Davis Brothers’ Catalog

Date: 1879–80


Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Challenge Dancer

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Dancing African American

Manufacturer: Davis Brothers’ Catalog

Date: 1879–80


Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Charleston Trio

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “A toy right up to theminute. New this year. Very snappy action.When strong spring is woundup Charleston Charlie dances while the small negro fiddles and the dog nods his approval.”


Date: 1926–31

Price: $0.45

Source: Spero 1988

Name: Chicken Snatcher

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “One of the new most novel toys of the year. When the strong spring motor is wound upthis scared looked negro shuffles along with a chicken in his hand and a dog hanging onthe seat of his pants. A very funny toy which will delight the kiddies.”


Date: 1926

Price: $0.45

Source: Spero 1988

Name: Colored Minstrel Boys

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “Two coons with the exaggerated head and foot movement of real darkies. One plays theaccordion, the other pats time and beats a cymbal with his foot.”


Date: 1922


Price: $1.39

Source: Spero 1988

Name: Comical Negro Drummer

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Painted in colors, plays cymbals and beats drum


Date: 1905


Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Ham and Sam the Minstrel Team

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: African American banjo player and piano player


Date: 1921

Price: $1.00

Source: icollector.com

Name: Hott and Tott

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Same as above, except with “Hott an’ Tott—Right on the Spot” decal

Manufacturer: Unique Art Mfg Co., Newark, NJ

Date: 1921

Price: Unknown


Name: Jazzbo Jim

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Similar to “Alabam Coon Jigger” but also holding banjo


Date: ca.1910–20s

Price: Unknown

Source: Auctionengine.net

Name: Mechanical Boxers

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “A new and very life like toy, the figure go through all the motions of two men boxing,

excellent motion, comical, life likfe action, finely made and finished, not liable to get out

of order”; similar to the “Pugilists”

Manufacturer: Marshall Field & Co.

Date: 1890–93


Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Mechanical Cake Walk

Type: Clockwork toy



Date: 1890–93



Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Mechanical Rocking Negro in Chair

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “Laughable toy. Merely wind up the spring and the negro rocks back and forth in chair. Hasmovable jaw and is very comically dressed.”


Date: 1911

Price: $0.35

Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Moving Apple Man

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “Avery comical toy. Represents cloth dressed negro sitting in apple cart, with painted apples.Negro’s feet rest on floor, and when toy is wound it runs backward in straight and curvedlines and apparently the negro is driving the cart back with his feet, as the beat on the floor.”


Date: 1911

Price: $0.45

Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Old Colored Fiddler

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “The face and expression is natural and so funny, that they provoke laughter wherevershown. There is a ‘point’ to each, fun for old and young alike.”


Date: 1890–93


Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Old Nurse

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “The old nurse, handsomely and strongly made, appropriately dressed, excellent motion,comical, life-like action, finely made and finished, not liable to get out of order.”


Date: 1890–1893


Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Poor Old Joe

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “The great mechanical banjo player. One of the most comical toys ever seen, which willforce a laugh from the most serious. Picks the banjo in a perfectly natural manner, turnshis head, sways his body to and fro, and pats the time out with his foot.”


Date: 1879

Price: $3.50


Name: Sister Lucinda at the Play

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “Represents a stout, elderly colored lady looking with intense interest at a play. Shakes herhead, sways her body from side to side, and fans herself vigorously with a palm leaf.”



Date: 1879

Price: $4.00


Name: Spic and Span, The Hams What Am

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “2 MAN BAND IN THE BOX.”

Manufacturer: Louis Marx and Co., New York City

Date: 1924

Price: Unknown


Name: Tamborine Player

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Similar to Banjo Player, but with tambourine.


Date: 1870s

Price: Unknown

Source: Antiquetrader.com

Name: Tip Top Porter

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: African American porter pushing baggage cart


Date: 1920s

Price: $0.50

Source: Wallystoys.com

Name: Tumbling Negro, Movable Jaw

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “Winds up by arms and tumbles around floor turning somersaults.”


Date: 1911

Price: $0.39

Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Two Jolly Blacks

Type: Clockwork toy


Manufacturer: Davis Brothers' Catalog

Date: 1879–80

Price: $4.00 per 50 dozen

Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Uncle Tom

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: “An elderly colored gentleman setting out upon his travels. Moves his legs, and walks inthe most natural and life-like manner, which moves the beholder to irresistible laughter. Atoy which cannot fail to delight the little ones.”


Date: 1879–80


Price: $2.60


Name: Walking Darkey

Type: Clockwork toy

Description: Similar to “Chicken Snatcher”

Manufacturer: American Wholesale

Date: 1928


Source: Barlow 1998

Name: Donkey Cart

Type: Mechanical pull toy

Description: “Donkey cart as used on the “Bad Accident” bank was made as a pull toy by Stevens”; “As thetoy is drawn, each revolution of the wheels causes the driver to strike the donkeywith a whip.”


Date: 1891

Price: $0.45


Name: The Negro Porter Pushes His Cart

Type: Mechanical push toy

Description: “Wind it up and the porter walks across floor, pushing his cart ahead of him. The legs movejust as though he were actually walking


Date: 1921

Price: $0.39

Source: Spero 1988

Name: Jolly Darkey Target Game

Type: Target game

Description: “The game is to throw the balls in to theDarkie’smouth. Each player in turn throws all the balls, and

score one for each that goes in the mouth. If a ball comes out again through one of the holes, it

scores as many extra balls for the player as the number marked near the hole indicates. A certain

number of points is set as the limit of the game, and the player who first scores that numberwins.”

Manufacturer: Milton Bradley, Springfield, MA

Date: 1890

Price: Unknown

Source: Boardgamegeek.com

Name: Tip the Bell Boy

Type: Target game

Description: “Can you tip the bell boy? See if you can shoot the ball into the boy’s trays.”


Date: ca. 1929

Price: $0.48

Source: Spero 1988

Name: Niggerhead Cap Pistol

Type: Cap pistorl

Description: Figure of a black man makes up the handle of the pistol. Cap is inserted into the mouth andthe hammer strikes the cap, setting it off.



Date: 1887

Price: Unknown

Source: Toyrepair,com

Name: Sambo Cap Pistol

Type: Cap Pistol

Description: Similar to above


Date: 1887

Price: Unknown

Source: Toyrepair.com

Name: Darky in a Watermelon

Type: Doll set

Description: “Upon opening the watermelon, which is made of papier mache, is found a littlepickanniny, southern darkey with cloth diaper fastened with a miniature safety pin and asmall nursing bottle. His white eyes flash and the whole face indicates perfect happiness.”


Date: Probably twentieth century

Price: $0.15 each or $1.35 per dozen

Source: Thetoyzone.com

Name: Golliwog

Type: Rag doll

Description: “Golliwogs are grotesque creatures, with very dark, often jet black skin, large white-rimmed eyes,red or white clown lips, and wild frizzy hear. Typically it’s a male dressed in a jacket, trousers,bow tie, and stand-up collar in a combination of red, white, blue, and occasionally yellow colors.”

Manufacturer: Steiff Co., Germany

Date: 1908

Price: Unknown

Source: Ferris.edu/jimcrow/golliwog/

Name: Masquerade Mask

Type: Costume mask

Description: Old Uncle Joe and Topsy: “Negro masks”


Date: 1921

Price: $0.67–0.79

Source: Spero 1988

Name: Negro Minstrel Suit

Type: Costume

Description: “Consists of yellow cloth trousers and black coat. Coat trimmed with broad yellow lapelsand buttons. Cap style wig, made of curled horsehair on stiff cloth foundation has kinkyeffect. Some black their faces. Masks sold separately.”


Date: 1921

Price: Costume, $0.38; Mask, $0.39

Source: Spero 1988


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Play Things: Children's Racialized Mechanical Banks and Toys, 1880-1930

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