Gilbert invented the first Erector Set in 1913. Henry Ford's Model T was still new. The Wright Brother's triumph was still experimental. Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and George Easton watched their inventions flourish. New railroads and bridges reached out and pulled together a nation that New Mexico and Arizona had just joined. Gilbert put into hands of children the spirit of that era.
Gilbert captured the hearts and minds of American children. As a child he had mastered magic.He built his gift for fascinating into the packaging and presentation of his products.

He built his gift for fascinating into the packaging and presentation of his products. He never underestimated the competence and seriousness of purpose of his young customers. His challenges, his tools were real. They empowered their owners.

A.C. Gilbert was a man of extraordinary success. He won a gold medal in the 1908 Olympics. He trained in Medicine at Yale University. He established his first company - manufacturing magic sets - when he was 25. He established the Toy Manufacturers Association of America. His New Haven-based A.C. Gilbert Company became, by 1941, the world's largest toy manufacturing company.

The Gilbert Hall of Science 1941 - 1991

An American Paradox: science & technology animate every corner of our society, except our classrooms. Our society lives by the fruits of invention, but does not teach invention.

An American triumph: 1941 - A.C. Gilbert opens the Hall of Science in New York on 5th Avenue. It is a palace of science learning, the culmination of Gilbert's vision. It is no mere store. Things work. At the touch of a button, trains move, electromagnets grab iron, ferris wheels turn. It is a palace for active minds and inquisitive hands.

Gilbert understood the minds and hands of his customers. He sold tools for the adventurous and curious child. He sold not to schools, but to individuals. The Hall of Science is less a prototypical classroom, than the forerunner of contemporary science and technology centers. Science requires personal discovery and time in measures schools have yet to understand.

Gilbert invented access to science just as science began to transform our society. When the exhibition asks what was the Hall of Science? we ask, how should children understand the world around them?