Harry Walmsley's toy hospital
Photographer: B. Snowden, Harry Walmsley's toy hospital, 1938, black and white photographic print, Photographic Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library, Reference: PA7-21-42
Harry Walmsley's toy hospital
New toys aren't always the best presents at Christmas.
At Harry Walmsley's toy hospital broken dolls, planes and other toys were patched up and given to poor children at Christmas. In this 1938 photo, Harry Walmsley is fixing a toy aeroplane in his packed workshop in Eastern Beach, Auckland. The rocking horses, dolls and prams wait patiently for their turn.
A note on the back of the photograph describes how "damaged toys from warehouses" were repaired by Walmsley and then given to "kindergartens, orphanages etc for distribution amongst the children."
Not everyone could rely on Walmsley's skill and generosity, but families still reeling from the economic depression of the 1930s had other options. How-to guides for making toys and games at home easily and cheaply were popular at this time. Books and magazines contained instructions for amusements like doll's houses, cardboard dolls, spinning tops, kaleidoscopes, flying aeroplanes, kites, moving pictures and leaping frogs.
Permission of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.
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