The English Toy Theatre was a craft hobby for children in the 1800s, which presumably evolved from the popularity of theatrical portraits sold as souvenirs in London, near Theatre row. Each toy theatre play (sold for either “a penny plain or two pence coloured”) was comprised of several sheets of paper illustrating characters and settings from contemporary productions that children would then cut out, assemble and perform in model wooden theatres for their friends and family.

It is a tradition with muddy roots -- one part handicraft, one part paper dolls, one part theatrical memorabilia, and one part an attempt by London printmakers to open a new market for their theatrical prints. As the primary audience was usually boys, these printmakers’ toy theatre catalogs contained a multitude of brigands, pirates, soldiers, swashbuckling combats and hairbreadth escapes. Luckily, a thirst for potboiler spectacle similarly gripped the English theater of the time.

Changes in fashion within theater, overall British society and children’s past times curtailed the popularity of the Toy Theatre through the Victorian age, although its legacy was maintained into the 20th century by London printer Benjamin Pollock.

Pollock was one of the very last merchants of Toy Theatre products. After his death, his inventory of printed sheets and printing plates was purchased by Marguerite Fawdry, who used them as the foundation for her new business, Pollock’s Toy Museum, in the 1950s. The museum warmed embers of interest in the medium and continued to sell Toy Theatre products, advertising them first as quaint handicraft toys and then later as items of historical curiosity. Miami University’s Toy Theatre collection is a direct result of Fawdry’s labors. In 1956, she entered into a business arrangement with one William Rogers, who became Pollock’s sales agent and distributor in the United States. In this capacity, Rogers collected a considerable amount of Pollock materials, including not just Toy Theatre products but also 19th century Theatrical Portraits, Equestrian Portraits and other printed novelties.

Technically, many of the plays in this collection are incomplete, as a good number of the scenery plates were often replaced with generic plates or similar backgrounds from other plays to “make do.” Also, business correspondences indicate that the majority of these materials were printed in the 20th century from the original plates, with some photocopies tossed in as well. That said, some genuine pieces dating from the 19th century are almost surely present in the collection as well.

Although the centerpieces of the collection are the plays and portraits, also included are a wooden toy theatre (complete with accessories), business correspondence between Rogers and Fawdry, and inventories, catalogues, brochures, and other promotional pamphlets produced by Pollock’s throughout the 20th century.

All told, this collection charts the rise, fall and eventual reappraisal of the Toy Theatre as a popular medium and historical artifact, while also providing insights into England’s printing, theater and popular culture of the 1800s. It is the largest such holding in North America.