Overview
Puzzles, box game, and playing cards from England and the United States.
Dates
- 1785-190- and undated
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English and German.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
1.5 linear feet (3 boxes)Includes 3 English wood dissection puzzles (jigsaw puzzles) from the 18th-century (some include hand-colored print), 1 accordion paper box game in English and German, and 14 printed playing card games. Also includes a manuscript playing card game formerly belonging to (and/or created by?) Edith Rotch (1847-1897) and a manuscript of song lyrics. Item (4) also belonged to Edith Rotch.
Boxes listed below are the original boxes comprising decks of cards or puzzle pieces.
Arrangement
Organized as received, in accession number order, into the following three series:
- I. Puzzles
- II. Box game
- III. Playing cards
Immediate Source of Acquisition
59Z-6 [items (1) - (17)]. Gift of Mrs. Horatio Appleton Lamb [Annie Lawrence Rotch Lamb, b.1857-); received: 1940 November 18.
Items (18) and (19). Donor and date unknown.
Entire collection was transferred from Widener Library, 1960 May.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
- Title
- Puzzles, box game, and playing cards, ca. 1785-190-: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02458
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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