Instruction and Delight: Children’s Games from the Ellen and Arthur Liman Collection

By the beginning of the eighteenth century in Britain, parents and teachers had begun to wholeheartedly embrace a suggestion from the philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) that “Learning might be made a Play and Recreation to Children.” The material culture of this period and the subsequent generation reveal a significant shift in thinking, as adults found fresh value in childhood and in play for its own sake. British publishers leapt at the chance to design books and games for both instruction and delight. This small display will celebrate the recent gift of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century children’s games and books to the Center by Ellen and Arthur Liman, Yale JD 1957.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.