32 of the Most Popular Toys From the Last 145 Years

For a child, the only thing worse than a broken bone is a seemingly interminable wait in an emergency room. A charity in the UK called Artfelt tries to brighten up these boring spaces and recently commissioned English photographer Andy Brown to shoot photos that could decorate the Accident & Emergency department in Sheffield's Children's Hospital.

Brown had previously shot portraits of children undergoing chemotherapy or spending time in the neonatal intensive care unit, so he had an understanding of the challenges young patients face while receiving care. His goal was to create art that would serve as a conversation piece between parents and their kids, while also highlighting the history of the hospital, which stretches back to the 1870s. "I like the way it ties the hospital’s past to its present," he says. "There are toys from every decade that there has been a children’s hospital in Sheffield."

Each toy is presented in a simple composition, centered in the frame, shot against a monochromatic background and seem almost like specimens in a medical research project. "I wanted to present the toys in as objective and as unified way as I could," he says. "In my opinion, something about taking them out of any sort of normal context helps in thinking about the toys as objects that were actually played with—that were used and enjoyed." To that end, he shot toys with all the dents, scratches, and missing parts that accumulate after a hundred years of playgroups.

Beyond being attractive images, Brown also wanted the series to present the toys that were actually the best sellers for each decade. He turned to Google to find sales figures, but even the omniscient search engine had difficulty figuring out what the "Tickle Me Elmo" equivalent was at Selfridge's Co. in 1912. The principled photographer turned to Catherine Howell, a curator at the Victoria and Albert's Museum of Childhood, who provided a list of toys that were both popular and important historically in each time period.

Viewed in series, it becomes easy to spot large changes in our culture, the technological landscape, and the changing nature of childhood:

• Before there was Pixar, there was the Zoetrope. The optical illusion was first demonstrated in 1836, over a hundred years before the first Saturday morning cartoons. The device was patented in 1867 by Milton Bradley, the man, not the company, and in many ways can be considered one of the first mass-market toys.
• Many of the early toys embody outdated and even alien cultural norms. A Downton Abbey-era figurine of a lady being pulled by chauffeur is a particular favorite of Brown's. "The role of the class system that fascinates me about this one," he says "The Lady being chauffeured by the smiling worker. Not the sort of toy you see today!"
• The humble Slinky was invented in 1943 when a naval engineer accidentally dropped a tension spring on the floor. His wife suggested he name it Slinky, which means graceful in Swedish. He sold out of the first batch in minutes and over a quarter billion units of this happy accident have been sold since.
• Brown left certain toys out of the series for aesthetic reasons—ride on toys like Big Wheels were too large and disrupted the aesthetic cohesion, while others like chemistry sets would have been too expensive for most children to have access to, making them poor symbols of the era.
• He-Man started out as a line of action figures to accompany the feature film Conan, but manufacturer Mattel didn't think Arnold Schwarzenegger's character was a suitable role model for young children—how right they were. The toy line was considered a bit of a risk at the time since boys weren't known to play with dolls, but in 1985 the line earned over $400 million dollars, out-earning even Barbie.
• Paradoxically, some of the best selling toys were the hardest to track down. Clackers were a popular noise making toy in the 1970s, but was fairly cheap, disposable, and liable to crack. "Loads of people can remember them," says Brown. "But very few people thought to hang on to them." As children's playthings become more ephemeral, this lack of a cultural record will only be exacerbated.
• Brown's series also captures the changing nature of toy purchases. The Luke Skywalker action figure was from his own personal collection and fondly remembers tossing it in the air to simulate the trench run, while today's action figures are often hoarded by collectors and never even opened.
• Beyond being playthings, this collection of photos tells the story of global commerce. The microprocessor boom of the early 1980s, coupled with the liberalization of trade in the early 1990s, paved the way for interactive toys like the Furby and Tamagotchi in late '90s.
• The rise of television in the 1960s marked another turning point where savvy marketers realized they could convince children to buy their wares with what amounted to long form ads. This practice became so widespread that the U.S. Congress felt compelled to act in passed the Children's Television Act of 1990 which prevented "show-length commercials" and limited tie-ins between content directed towards children and ads.

Tracking down Howell's recommendations required a bit of detective work, but half a dozen local museums opened their collections for the benefit of the children. Friends with young children also let Brown rifle through their toy boxes in search of a particular action figure or Lego brick and calls were even put out on the radio to find the missing pieces.

The question remains if physical toys have much of a future in a world filled with Angry Birds and other digital diversions. "Toys will always have a future," says Howell. "Digital play is only part of a child's recreation, and playing and interacting with a physical toy will always be more creative and imaginative. The popular toys of the past, like dolls, teddy bears, soldiers, and even the simple top or yo-yo, are still popular today, even though they may look a bit different."

The works are on view at the Children's Hospital and Sheffield, but hopefully you'll never have to see them in person.