Most toys these days need batteries, microchips and complicated directions before the fun can start.
But there was a time when toys ran solely on a child’s imagination. The ability to pretend turned porcelain dolls into real babies and wooden horses into thoroughbreds.
The Northeast Oakland Historical Museum is inviting people to stop in over the next two months and experience those simpler days when toys weren’t molded from cheap plastic or have ‘Made in China? stickers on them.
Beginning Dec. 1, the museum, located at the northwest corner of Washington and Burdick streets in downtown Oxford, will be offering a special holiday exhibit featuring antique toys from the early 1900s and a Christmas tree decorated with antique ornaments and candle-holders.
‘We’ve always had toys up there, but they were never really promoted,? said Carla Lambertson, museum volunteer and historical society member. ‘We’ve got dolls, a glider horse (or rocking horse), doll buggies and other items.?
The toys will be a mixture of museum stock and items loaned by historical society members for the exhibit.
One of the featured toys will be a doll buggy once owned by the late Mildred Schmidt, a founding member of the historical society and curator of the museum for 27 years.
Lambertson said the museum has a black-and-white photo of a three or four-year-old Schmidt standing with the buggy.
‘The whole exhibit is going to be in memory of Mildred Schmidt,? Lambertson noted. Schmidt passed away Oct. 30 at the age of 99.
Complimenting the old toys will be an old-fashioned Christmas tree decorated with ornaments dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s along with candle-holders.
‘Back before electricity, they would put (lit) candles on the trees,? Lambertson explained.
Modern electric candles will fill the holders ‘just to give the effect? without the fire hazard.
Some of the ornanments offer a unique glimpse of a time when Christmas decorations were more of a fun craft than a store-bought item.
‘There are five or six that are really neat,? Lambertson said. ‘They’re a type of tin foil (covering a wad of crumpled paper) handmade into a ball. Then they took this simple string, wrapped it around it to hold it and made a loop so you could hang it.?
‘People back then just used simple things because that’s all they had,? she explained.
Many of the exhibit’s ornaments are believed to be from Schmidt as well.
‘I found them in the basement, just tucked away,? Lambertson said. ‘The curators think they were hers.?
The museum will be open every Saturday from 1-4 p.m. during December and January.
It will then close for the entire month of February.
‘We’re going to do some heavy cleaning and rearranging and things like that,? Lambertson said.
This will be the museum’s third big exhibit of the year. Anique hats and Civil War artifacts were on display during the spring and summer months.
Group tours can be arranged by calling (248) 628-8413. The museum will be closed on Saturday, Dec. 29.