AA-2026-760643
On the image
On Christmas morning sometime in the 1950s, a toddler in footed pajamas stands in front of a tree so thoroughly draped in tinsel that the branches are barely visible beneath it, which was the correct approach to tree decoration in that decade and not considered excessive. Behind him the floor is covered in the full taxonomy of mid-century American childhood: a Junior Combination Games set — the box already flipped upside down by someone who couldn't find the latch — a Barbie doll in her formal dress laid out as though napping, ceramic snowman figures, and what appears to be a toy drum, all of it representing the considered judgment of parents who believed a child could be simultaneously educated and entertained by owning seventeen things at once. The boy has chocolate or some other evidence of early-morning unauthorized eating on his face, which suggests he was unsupervised for at least a few minutes before this moment was recorded for posterity. Someone handed him the camera's attention and he accepted it with the blank, slightly unstable confidence of a person who has not yet learned what cameras are for. The adults in this house were certain they had given him an exceptional Christmas; he was mostly interested in the wrapping paper.
Visually related — by likeness
Christmas Morning Haul, Toddler with Junior Combination Games, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-760643. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/christmas-morning-haul-toddler-with-junior-combination-games-1950s.
@misc{aaAA2026760643,
title = {Christmas Morning Haul, Toddler with Junior Combination Games, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-760643},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/christmas-morning-haul-toddler-with-junior-combination-games-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Christmas Morning Haul, Toddler with Junior Combination Games, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-760643 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/christmas-morning-haul-toddler-with-junior-combination-games-1950s ER -
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