toy dolls

Nursery On Parade!

From soft and cuddly ones for younger children, to more realistic huggable and posable dolls. Here are a few that the archives included.

Although also featuring a doll, the 1915 family photo shown here is considerably more poignant when you think that military uniformed doll has temporarily, or indeed permanently, replaced a missing loved one.

Whilst it is true that these next two dolls were not made as toys, they would no doubt be loved by young children then and now, as much as they were by the adults who longed to see their loved ones they depicted again. Softly appealing to children yet representing the hard reality of loss and fragility of the body, these unique items have a their own mini documentary from NZ TV which I've also included here.

cowboys and indians

Most of the toys pulled from the NZ archives in this story represent the World Wars of the early 20th century, which of course NZ's were directly involved in. However although limited in scope to parts of frontier America in the 19th century, these 'Cowboy and Indian' battles, as since popularised by Hollywood films, comic books, and early TV, have become mainstays of children's play all over the world.

The hopes to end 20th century war saw apocryphal stories such as this one about a child's doll from the era being shared again. 

the small scale of war

Perhaps only second to the toy gun, children's toys depicting war and the military in scale model form remain as common today as they have always been. 

The level of detail increases as technology has developed from tin plate, to tin moulds, though die cast metals, and onto plastic pieces and kits.

Although desired by children there are some models which have always been beyond pocket money and have become expensive adult treasures commemorating those in wars, as well as the battles they fought. Sometimes played with, or just displayed, these toys are set to be handed down to generations to come who hopefully won't end up becoming depicted in future scale models themselves.

This RNZ clip from 2014 is an interview with Mr Farley of Regal Tin Soldiers in Greytown. Beyond the usual interview questions about the building up, albeit in scale form, of the military, it is interesting on another level for the mid-point interruption and consequent 'dead air' that becomes increasingly traumatic for the interviewer!

dressing up

Simply and literally a uniform depiction of childhood from our archives.

bang! Bang!

The weapons may be different but the aim is the same.

World wide toy manufacturers have since joined the battle to win over children's pocket money by selling toy arms. However the translations of marketing slogans into English markets can lead to strange examples as shown here.

read all about it

A small selection of literally graphic depictions of war. Harmless comics or normalising brutal actions from our tragic history? Even this small selection from the archives shows the 'enemy' as faceless and unknown, whilst the heroes have names and stories supporting their goals. 

Considering that war movies from the time were, or have since been, restricted to PG or higher classifications, it is interesting to think about the accessibility of these paper representations in the same context.

play it again sam

Recreating the decisions and strategy of war through board games aimed at, or played by, children is periodically popular throughout history. Looking at these examples the level of realism, especially when combined with imagination and maybe recent experience, could now be considered concerning. This is long before the advent of video games which have since taken up the challenge of recreating battles and war, expanding it to levels and realism these games and their players could only have discovered after enlisting. 

Of course unlike war, board games replace the risk of death with the chance roll of dice, the fighting participants with tokens or models, and the military commanders dictating their moves with your fellow players. The glory of wining and fear of loosing is defined by rules of play agreed to by all participants beforehand and debated as the game is played.

Military technology continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in war, long beyond a level achievable in strategy table top maps, and video game screens, yet rather ironically aiming to emulate the physical and emotional detachment for those involved now, that these games were once trying hard to recreate. 

missing pieces

Jigsaw puzzles could, in some ways, be considered a symbolic story of all war and conflict. 

Starting with the depiction of what once was on the box, to the chaotic destruction of that picture when a child empties the box out, followed by the painstaking rebuilding of what once was and the desire to place every piece. Maybe these examples are of their time and jigsaws no longer show such scenes.

But for the scenes these examples represent, the reality was many pieces lost, and not just under the sofa, so ultimately the real picture of war is one that can never be the same afterwards as it was before. Call me foolish but maybe we can just not open the box in the first place?

This final toy is a self proclaimed 'greatest jigsaw problem of the age...' asking you to 'put Europe together again!'

Something that is maybe just as relevant today, as it was back then?

Thank you for reading this story. All of the opinions are just that, opinions, and included by the author as a way to think differently about how we represent and normalise items and imagery of war, especially those aimed specifically at our future generations. Whilst it is true that human nature includes conflict, and therefore children may naturally always fight or play at fighting, it maybe does not need to include the horror of machine guns and covertness of uniforms designed to remove the unique identity of those involved. Just a fought and a timely one I wanted to publish now when thoughts of the 100 year end of WW1 are in our minds.

This DigitalNZ story was collated and written by Kevin Double from searches of all available archives in the digitalNZ platform. Items have been included with a preference towards photos, and regardless of individual copyrights, so please do check before reusing any of them outside of the digitalNZ platform.