AA-2026-5D1AAC
On the image
A small child in a white knitted dress kneels on a linoleum floor to examine a toy drum kit, the sort of musical instrument a mid-century parent bought to encourage artistic development or simply to fill quiet afternoon hours with noise that could be tolerated. The set includes a snare drum with red tartan fabric, a black drum with white floral decoration, and a bass drum with pedal—a fully functional miniature orchestra crammed into a living room, which is what parents believed children needed before television made the question moot. The child bends forward with the absorbed concentration of someone encountering a mechanical system for the first time, studying the mechanisms as though the drum might explain something about the world. By the 1950s, such toys had become standard equipment in American homes, marketed on the theory that every child harboured a latent musician waiting to emerge, or at minimum, that a child with drumsticks in hand was a child not dismantling the furniture. The photograph catches her in the moment before she learns that striking things repeatedly is more fun than understanding how they work.
Visually related — by likeness
Child with Toy Drum Set, circa 1950s. 1948–1958. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-5D1AAC. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/child-with-toy-drum-set-circa-1950s.
@misc{aaAA20265D1AAC,
title = {Child with Toy Drum Set, circa 1950s},
year = {1948–1958},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-5D1AAC},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/child-with-toy-drum-set-circa-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Child with Toy Drum Set, circa 1950s PY - 1948–1958 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-5D1AAC UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/child-with-toy-drum-set-circa-1950s ER -
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