By Adrienne Logan

What was life like for a child in early Prescott? There were no televisions, computers, cellphones or other types of electronics available for their entertainment, unlike today’s counterparts.

Dolls repeatedly appear in Prescott-area family histories. Ina Muzik Brinkmeyer, who settled in Prescott in 1890 and raised children there during the territorial period (1863 to 1912), made hats, shoes and clothing for her daughters’ dolls. This shows that commercially obtained dolls could be supplemented with homemade accessories.

A Camp Verde oral history records a community Christmas tree in 1915 at which a rancher’s young daughter received a cowboy doll. Although this is three years after statehood, it reflects customs formed during the late territorial period: communal Christmas celebrations, individually distributed gifts and toys reflecting western life.

The Sharlot Hall Museum identifies corn-husk dolls as toys made by both pioneer and Native children during the nineteenth century. This is consistent with the inexpensive, locally made playthings used in rural households.

Near the remains of the Myers family’s dugout home in the Mint Valley (Granite Mountain area) researchers found a child’s toy iron. Miniature irons allowed children to imitate adult domestic work and were commonly associated with girls’ play in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Other household-imitation toys included miniature dishes, chairs, stoves, cradles, sewing equipment and doll furniture. Arizona newspaper advertising confirms that sets of toy dishes and small chairs were commercially available by the early twentieth century.

During the Spanish-American war in 1898, Prescott boys organized martial groups such as “Brodies Cadets,” probably due to the influence and legacy of Buckey O'Neill, Prescott's Hometown Hero, during that era. Well-to-do families purchased miniature military uniforms and toy rifles, allowing children to imitate soldiers and Rough Riders.

These objects are especially relevant to Arizona because military posts, the Apache campaigns, Fort Whipple and the Rough Riders likely made military imagery prominent in territorial childhood.

Territorial newspapers provide the best evidence for the range of manufactured toys available in Arizona stores. A 1905 Arizona Republican advertisement offered a varied selection of toys including dolls, doll carriages, toy dish sets, toy engines, toy wagons, toy knives, and numerous other children’s goods.

A 1907 Phoenix advertisement listed dolls, dishes, chairs, horns, drums, musical tops and mechanical toys. Toy wagons were advertised in the Arizona Republican in December 1906 for 60 and 80 cents. These advertisements demonstrate that territorial Arizona children—at least in towns with established merchants and freight connections—had access to nationally manufactured toys rather than relying exclusively on homemade objects.

The advertisements also show a familiar division between toys intended for girls (dolls, dishes, furniture and domestic equipment) and toys marketed to boys, such as engines, wagons, drums, knives, military equipment and mechanical devices.

Marbles were inexpensive, portable, and well suited to frontier communities. The Arizona Historical Society uses marbles in its education material and notes their long history as both manufactured glass or clay objects and rounded stones or clay balls used in improvised games.

Other likely forms of play included hoops rolled with sticks, spinning tops, jacks or knucklebone-type games and balls made from leather, cloth or rubber, as well as jump ropes, slingshots, toy bows and arrows, stick horses, handmade wooden wagons, boats, animals, guns, board and card games, hide-and-seek, races, wrestling and horseback contests.

Improvised toys tended to be made from perishable materials and were rarely preserved or formally catalogued.

Frontier toys in Arizona from 1863-1912 include homemade dolls, corn-husk dolls, miniature household items and improvised outdoor games using marbles and hoops. Commercial toys such as dolls, wagons and mechanical devices were available by the early 20^th century, especially in towns. Museum and archaeological sources provide evidence that Indigenous children played with dolls, marbles and other objects.

September 12, explore pioneer children’s games, toys, and activities at Sharlot Hall Museum’s Living History Adventure: “Playtime on the Frontier.”

“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1. The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.