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Assistant Curators Joseph Bilby or Carol Fowler at the

National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey732-974-5966

      Little boys – and some little girls as well -- have played with toy soldiers as long as anyone can remember. The National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey at Sea Girt commemorates that old time tradition with a new exhibit for the holidays – old time toy soldiers. The toy soldiers, representing American regular Army and National Guard troops from the 1890-1940 period, are all original and on loan from the collection of noted New Jersey collector Ronald DaSilva.

 

      The toy military men include paper soldiers from the 1890s produced in New York City, imported German-made lead bandsmen from 1910 and Japanese manufactured paper-mache miniatures dating from the 1920s, along with American-made lead figures from New Jersey's Barclay Toy Company of North Bergen, New Jersey and the Gray Iron Company of Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.

 

      The toy soldier display is supplemented with examples of children's military adventure literature of the era, from the fanciful In Camp with a Tin Soldier to the World War I propaganda series The Boy Allies as well as original sheet music, including titles like The Little Major March.

 

      The National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey is currently open on its winter visitor schedule. Visiting hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on the first and third weekends of the month from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.