November 2020 News 2

November 2020-- Hearthside's remarkable story of different items finding their way back to where they once were continues. Our latest chapter involves antique toys.

It all started last January when I received an email from the RISD Museum. Unfortunately, it had landed in my spam folder and I didn't discover it till mid-February. But fortunately, I did find it, and it's a good thing because it was an inquiry as to whether we might be interested in any antique toys that were being deaccessioned from their collection.

"With a toy exhibit that was in the works for the spring, I jumped at the chance of adding a few antiques to it. So I sat down to review the catalog of items to select from and almost fell off my chair! The list contained item after item being identified as having been donated by Mrs. Arnold G. Talbot!," stated Kathy Hartley, president of the Friends of Hearthside. "That meant that these toys had come from Hearthside originally." The Talbots moved out of Hearthside in 1926 to Philadelphia and that is when the toys were left to the stewardship of the RISD Museum.

The official transfer of the collection finally took place in November. The toys consist primarily of dollhouse items and miniature furniture. Amey Talbot, a cousin of Arnold Talbot, had graduated from RISD, and years later her daughter Amey Talbot Vernon put her artistic skills to work by co-founding the Tynietoy Company of Providence in the early 1920s. It is thought that many of her designs were inspired by the heirloom furniture at Hearthside. Some Tynietoy pieces are included in the donation. Tynietoy became quite well know for quality dollhouses and the intricate fine details put into their furnishings. Other pieces date much further back and are thought to be among the family heirlooms that were handed down through the generations.

An exhibit of the Talbot Toys will be scheduled at some point in the future when crowd limitations are lifted and we may welcome an unlimited audience back to Hearthside.