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William Boyd Childhood Collection
Image: Locomotive - Royal Scot
Source: Museum Victoria
The William Boyd Childhood Collection includes most of the childhood possessions of William (Bill) Boyd.
Most of us have a few treasured mementoes from our childhood, but Bill Boyd had over 700 of them. His mother Lillian carefully preserved mementoes of his childhood in Maryborough, in central Victoria, in the late 1940s and 1950s. Bill suffered ill-health as a child, and his long hours in bed encouraged him to also become a collector.
The collection was passed onto Bill after his mother's death. He eventually donated it to the Museum of Childhood at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. When the Museum of Childhood closed it was transferred to Museum Victoria.
Encompassing toys, books, clothing and other items, the William Boyd Childhood Collection is rare in its comprehensiveness: even ephemera such as the back of a Cornflakes box is included. The Collection demonstrates a range of prominent themes in the lives of postwar Victorian children, such as the ability to 'make do' under austere circumstances; the shift in toy manufacture towards plastic materials and mass production; the continuing cultural influence of Britain; the increasing embrace of American popular culture; the prominence of gender roles; and the popularity of transport and war themed toys for boys.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 10) 216 items
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Aeroplane - G-BOAC Comet, Yellow Plastic, circa 1950s
Yellow plastic toy aeroplane. Used and owned by Bill Boyd in the 1950s. The William Boyd Childhood Collection includes most of the childhood possessions of William (Bill) Boyd, who was ...
From: Churchlands, Australia Images: 1 -
Leaflet - Obstetric List, Items for Mother to Bring to Childbirth, 1947
Printed leaflet listing items to be brought to Maryborough District Hospital by a mother at the time of giving birth. It was used by Lillian Boyd when she gave birth to her son Bill in ...
Images: 2 -
Drawing - Number Pictures & Figures, 1950s
Hand-drawn illustration of numbers in the form of pictures and figures, glued to Maggi advertisement. Drawn by Bill Boyd when he was a young boy in the 1950s. His mother, who helped him ...
Images: 2 -
Stamps - 'Toy Post', Golliwog, Duck, Pelican & Bear, 1950s
Toy post stamps, used by Bill Boyd as a child in the mid 1950s. He remembers pasting similar stamps onto letters. The four rows of stamps each feature an icon: a 'golliwog', duck, pelic ...
Images: 1 -
Envelope - Ginger Meggs Club, Addressed to Billie Boyd, 10 Sep 1956
Envelope addressed to Billie Boyd featuring an image of Ginger Meggs with his monkey and dog. Ginger Meggs was a cartoon comic strip based on the activities of a fictional mischievous r ...
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Rug Hook - Metal, 1950s
Metal rug hook. Used by Bill Boyd and his mother in the 1950s to create rugs made of hessian and wool such as HT 24913, which features a fox terrier. They used a simple wooden frame, at ...
Images: 1 -
Hobby Horse - Wood, 1950s
Alternative Name(s): Hobbyhorse Wooden hobby horse, used and owned by Bill Boyd in the 1950s. The William Boyd Childhood Collection includes most of the childhood possessions of Willi ...
Images: 1 -
Card - Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Men of Stamina, Series No. 4, No. 67., circa 1950s
Card No. 67 from the Men of Stamina, Series No. 4, depicting Captain Robert Falcon Scott. It is one of a set of these cards used and owned by Bill Boyd in the 1950s. Scott was an office ...
Images: 2 -
Card - Sir Ernest Shackleton, Men of Stamina, Series No. 4, No. 72., circa 1950s
Card No. 72 from the Men of Stamina, Series No. 4, depicting Sir Ernest Shackleton. It is one of a set of these cards used and owned by Bill Boyd in the 1950s. Shackleton was polar expl ...
Images: 2 -
Aeroplane - G-BOAC Comet, Yellow Plastic, circa 1950s
Yellow plastic toy aeroplane. Used and owned by Bill Boyd in the 1950s. The William Boyd Childhood Collection includes most of the childhood possessions of William (Bill) Boyd, who was ...
From: Churchlands, Australia Images: 1
