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Belozersky Regional Museum of Local Lore
г. Ханты-Мансийск, ул. Академика Королева, д. 71
График работы:
с 9:00 до 18:00
без обеда и выходных
belproswet@belozermus.ru
+7 (81756) 2-28-97 заказ экскурсий

Folks Toy Collection

While having expedition trips in the Belozersk district, the Museum employees always asked old residents how they played and what kind of toys they had in their childhood. In fact, clay large pots and carved brakes were preserved very well. The Museum also received homespun clothes. However, nobody could find any toys among old things in attics and storerooms. Talks explained that kids played the simplest toys made by themselves or sometimes by their moms or dads in the past.

Tamara Yeremicheva, born in 1930, from the village of Bubrovo, remembers the following: “In my childhood we played “a house”. We used to make wooden shacks, took our dolls there, made clay candies, cooked grass meals and played. We sewed our dolls by ourselves. My mom had a lot of waste patches and we used them to make dolls”. Anna Bogdanova, born in 1925, who lived in the village of Prylyovo belonging to the Paninskaya local council told: “My dad did a wood sledge leaving a lot of sticks. We made holes in those sticks using a knife, painted them and payed imaging they were cows”.

Such memories highlight the value of a small collection of wooden toys kept in the Museum.

Special birchbark balls or blocks were made for babies who couldn’t even walk and who just started learning about this world. Blocks were of suitable size and could be held in baby hands. Nobody worried if such toys were in a baby’s mouth. Sometimes such blocks were filled with small stones making them rattles.

Older kids had more advanced toys. So, in 1913-1915, Fyodor Semyonov who lived in the village of Artyushino made moving toys for his nephews Kolya Senichev and Vasya Semyonov. The “sawyer” toy was a man figure made of wood. Its arms were raised and connected with a saw by a round crossbar. 3 holes were made in its body, with a rope passing through the upper hole. A load was fixed to the end of the saw. The load swang and one had to fix the rope on the “saw”. The “hammer-smiths” toy is similar to wooden carved toys from the village of Bogorodskoye. The difference is that man figures were carved instead of bears. It is noteworthy that such toys prepared kids for adulthood and made them know about future occupations.

In 1979, master Malkov who lived in Belozersk made a toy in the plough shape. It was a reproduction of a very important agricultural facility! The toy height was 13.7 centimeters. Its tiny handles and one-sided dump share were made of juniper and tin.

Two interior items used to play “a house” are also kept in the Museum. Real “family life” plots were played thanks to kids’ big imagination. A chest of drawers helped them for example. Dmitry Subbotin who was a good woodman living in the village of Yesipovo, Glushkovo area, made a chest of drawers for his kids: it stood on 4 legs, had 3 real drawers with round handles on each one. It was made after the war. A carved closet from the town of Belozersk is also dated the same period. It was just over 30 centimeters in size, had patterns on its opening doors and a gable like closets for adults had. No wonder that such toys were kept in families despite of their relocations and fast changing life!

Toys also include reed pipes what are musical instruments as hollow sticks with holes. Their entire surface is decorated with geometric carving and painted.

Besides handmade toys, the wood collection also includes machine-made items such as an open stroller  dated the first quarter of the 20th century which belonged to the Andreevs teacher family from the village of Vorobino, alphabet bricks dated the 1970s and later things.

Although the collection includes not so many toys it is very interesting and popular among visitors. We hope, it will be added with new items in future.

Chief Curator Tatyana Bogomolova

Folks Toy Collection:

  1. Open stroller on 4 wooden wheels. 1st half of 20th century
  2. Sawyer (a man figure with 3 holes and a saw with a load) made by Fyodor Semyonov from the village of Artyushino, 1913-1915
  3. Hammer-smiths made by Fyodor Semyonov from the village of Artyushino, 1913-1915
  4. Fawn drab plough made by Malkov, 1979
  5. Whity-brown birchbark ball made in the village of Kaino, Babayevo district, 1st half of 20th century
  6. Birchbark brick made by Alexander Gantsev born in 1931 from the village of Karpovo, Paninskaya area, 1986
  7. Whity-brown rattle with rounded corners and a long handle made by Anna Kuzina, Handicraft Center, 2003
  8. Deep red jewel box (a chest of 3 drawers) made by Dmitry Subbotin from the village of Yesipovo, Glushkovo area, 1950-1960
  9. Reed pipe (musical instrument), 1st half of 20th century
  10. Doctor Powderpill (a man figure wearing a white coat with moving parts), 1970-1980
  11. Set of alphabet printed bricks, 22 items, 1970-1980
  12. Kids’ billiard table, 1970-1980
  13. Green carved closet with figured doors and a gable, 1950