Then and Now Family Day

Baby Boomers to Gen Z

July 13, 2019

10 AM – 4 PM
Handy House
202 Hix Bridge Road, Westport

FREE!

Do you remember rotary phones, typewriters and Jiffy Pop?

Join us at the Handy House with your grandchildren, younger friends, or family members for a special day of activities designed to encourage sharing and dialogue across the generations. The one day event will include a “Then and Now” pop up museum featuring objects from the 1950s and 1960s. Kids can get up close to a vintage car, play retro games, and start a conversation with grandparents or older friends about their memories of growing up.“I walked miles to school and collected cans for spending money!” Have you ever said that to your children or grandchildren to explain how your childhood experience was different from theirs?

Do you think you had more fun? Were your toys and household items simpler and better? What was life like before cell phones, Netflix, Facebook, and Alexa? Talk to older people today and they may describe how they had to actually walk across the room to change one of the only four or five channels on their televisions. There is a certain nostalgia to memories of life 50 years ago, but was life better back then — or just different? How do the experiences of our older friends and family members compare with those of today’s Millennial young adults and Gen Z teens and tweens?

We are looking for objects for the one-day 1950s and 1960s pop up museum. All objects will be returned after the event. We especially seek objects relating to fashion, entertainment, games, cooking/kitchen ware, and technology such as typewriters, telephones etc.

Here are some more ideas:

Entertainment and games

Fat-tired Schwinn bicycle

Viewmaster and slides

Wooden Skis and Leather Ski Boots

Sleds and Wooden Toboggan

Aluminum Flying Saucer – Snow Disc

Wooden Snowshoes

Ice Skates

Wooden Tennis Racquet

Croquet Set

Bamboo Fishing Rod, wicker Creel, Lures

Vintage Baseball Equipment (wool uniform, gloves, pennants, catcher’s equipment)

Baseball Cards

Leather Football Helmet & gear

Football Cards

Hartland Baseball Figures

Wiffle Ball

Comic Books – Classics

Superman & Batman memorabilia

Cowboy memorabilia & toys (Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, Gunsmoke, Lone Ranger, Lone Ranger)

Cap Guns and Holster

Disney memorabilia

Mickey Mouse Club

Howdy Doody, Clarabell, Flub-A-Dub puppets

Jerry Mahoney doll

Space Rangers

Froggy the Gremlin (rubber frog)

Yo-Yo

Slingshot

Lincoln Logs

Erector Set

Harmonica

50-60’s Movie posters & memorabilia

Toy Soldiers, Cowboy and Knights play sets

Toy Train sets

Slot Track Racing set

Early Barbie

Dinky Toy cars and trucks

Model Cars and Airplanes

Marbles

Board Games

Cribbage Board

Pogo Stick

Stilts

Milkman Window Sign

Streetcar Tokens

Nancy Drew novels

Tin Toy Trucks

Marx Trucks

Auburn Rubber Toys

Technology

Old Tube Radio

Old TV Set

Shortwave Radio

CB Radio

Reel-to-reel tape recorder

Portable record player

78, 45, 33 rpm records

Adding Machine

Movie camera and projector

Box Camera and vintage cameras

Flashbulbs

Slide Projector

Typewriter

Rotary Telephone

Slide Rule

TV Antenna

Fountain Pen and Ink bottle

Rinehart Cursive Penmanship Chart

Food/kitchen

Meat grinder

Drip coffee pot

Manual Toaster

Bean Pot

Poodle Skirt

Howard Johnson’s ephemera

TV Dinners and Tray

Old Coke Bottles

Fireballs (candy)

Saltwater Taffy

Za-Rex (bottle)

Charleston Chew

Necco Wafers

Marshmallow Fluff

Snow’s Clam Chowder

Canned Welsh Rarebit

Jiffy-Pop

Apron, Potholders, Quilts

Menus, ads, placemats, posters from local Restaurants and Entertainment

Milk bottle

Fashion

Women’s Fashion Eye Glasses

Women’s and Men’s Hats

Beauty products?

Prom gown???

Misc.

Men’s Pipe and Tobacco Pouch

Red Man Chewing Tobacco

Cigarette Lighter

Ashtrays

Piggy Bank

Road Maps

AAA Triptiks

Air Raid and Fallout Shelter sign & posters

S&H Green Stamp Book

Savings and War Bond poster & book

Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs

Saturday Evening Post covers

Life Magazine covers

Norman Rockwell anything

Hurricane (kerosene) Lamp

American Bandstand

Dick Clark

Brylcreem

Westport Fair posters & memorabilia

Lincoln Park posters & memorabilia

Circus posters & memorabilia

Rodeo posters & memorabilia

Seekonk Speedway posters & memorabilia

Sports Team & Player posters

Music Concert posters & memorabilia

Automobile brochures and ads

Automotive signs & posters

Nautical signs & posters

Old Tools

Whirligigs and Pink Flamingos