Paper Pastimes of Past Times

A series of six prints in our Popular Graphic Arts Collection have always intrigued me. As one is themed around decorating a Victorian era Christmas tree, I thought it timely to share. Many folks are busily wrestling live trees into place or unboxing their artificial trees in this early part of December. This print from 1881 was an arts and crafts project and entitled Pastime for Little Fingers. As the goal was to cut out all of the detailed items around the border, some quite small, and then paste them into place, those little fingers had to be very good with scissors!

The figures along the top and right side of this uncut version hint at what is to come when the empty white spaces are filled with curious children, candles and toys. The next two prints suggest what other toys boys and girls played with at the time. This “girls’ play-ground” contains books, dolls, jump rope, swing and some kind of game played with small rackets.

Some similar games are afoot at this “boys’ play-ground”, though I see a game of leapfrog, military dress-up and some additional gymnastics equipment as well as the hoop and stick also seen amongst the girls.

This interesting series continues with prints focused on a military camp, a circus, and a zoo-like scene featuring many animals.

Perhaps you’re now feeling inspired – and dexterous – and will try your hand at creating these scenes yourself!

Learn More:

• See the six prints from the Pastime for Little Fingers series in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. If you want to print your own copies to try out, be sure to download the TIFF file linked in each record for the highest-quality image.
• Read a Picture This post, Revisiting Rights-Free: Popular Graphic Art Prints, from the Revisiting Rights-Free series of blog posts devoted to highlighting digitized content that has long been available on the Library’s web site and is worth revisiting.