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Classical
Blocks
A Gilbert Project Study
To
See
Blocks from the Gilbert Company, from the Gilbert
Era, from before and after Gilbert. Explore the evolution
of materials, styles of connection, styles of instruction.
Artifacts from the Museum's collection; the Collections
of Steve Olin, Keith Rancourt and others.
Anchor Blocks
Recognition Blocks
Brik-Tor
Erector - Brik
Gilbert Domino Number Blocks
Anne Farrell dominoes |
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To
Touch
Anchor Blocks
Unit Blocks
Recognition Blocks
Number Blocks
Dominoes
Duplos
Problems to solve for the young... and the not so young.
Add a digital image of your work to the ongoing electronic catalogue
which will accompany the development of the exhibition.
To Think:
the language of the mind
Consider reading pictures, the traditional discipline for transmitting
instructions. Does not this compressed visual language do work
that would require volumes of writing?
Consider the mathematics of blocks. In the simplest of constructions,
does not a five your old add, subtract, multiply and divide;
might he not derive square of cube roots - all without numbers?
Consider the gender of blocks. Do boys really build towers while
girls build enclosures? Are blocks more important to boys than
girls? Do girls abandon blocks earlier than boys?
Consider the culture of blocks. Do blocks express for the Western
child what origami expresses for the child of Japan?
Consider the philosophy of blocks. In modeling the near and
concrete world, does not a child prepare to think about distant
or abstract worlds?
To Share:
a community castle
It takes a community to build a Castle. Master Builder Jon Parley
will lead a 4 month community building project to construct
a grand castle in 1/2 inch scale, complete with knights and
knaves, with catapults and crenellations, with drawbridges and
damsels. During museum hours.
To Take
The Museum, with the help of J. K. Harmon, Inc., produces micro
blocks, the foundation of our architectures projects. With the
blocks, glue and wood scraps, you may construct: A Caste
A Cathedral
A Temple
A Roman House
An Egyptian House
or projects of your own design.
Whitney
& Blocks
In 1798, Maria and R.L. Edgeworth introduced building blocks
in Practical Education. It's not a simple coincidence
that 1798 was the year that Eli Whitney began to construct a
factory on the year that Eli Whitney began to construct a factory
on the site that has become the Museum.
After all, Whitney would devise systems for producing uniform
and interchangeable parts. Whitney would help realize industrial
manufacturing's power to create inexpensive goods for households.
Handmade blocks were fine for princes. The 19th century would
create interchangeable block sets for the growing middle class.
The advent of the Factory, and with it urbanization, redefined
the nature of childhood and education. In farm culture, the
work of childhood had been work: children were a critical part
of the family's survival. Educational reformers like Friedrich
Fröebel (1782-1852) proclaimed that the natural work of childhood
was learning and that building blocks were a universal tool
of that work. Blocks educated the hand and mind.
A. C.
Gilbert & Blocks
A. C. Gilbert entered manufacturing in 1909 a creator of products
not philosophy. But like Fröebel and Montessori, he was driven
by an instinct for the needs of capable young minds in a complex
and changing world. Gilbert's Erector Set made him the king
of American construction toys.
Gilbert survived the dislocations of the First World War better
than his German competitors whose exports had dominated the
American toy market. During the war, the American Anchor Block
manufacturing facilities of the German company F. Ad Richter
were confiscated. Gilbert purchased the Richter assets and by
1919 produced block sets under his name - a perfect product
for the younger brothers and sisters of Gilbert's Erector Set
customers.
Older children remained Gilbert's primary market. But in the
1950's, aware of a new giant emerging to compete for the hands
and hearts of young children (LEGO), Gilbert tested new block
sets including designs by Anne Farrell.
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