NEW YORK, NY.- The New-York Historical Society has been transformed this holiday season with a vibrant and sweeping display of spectacular antique toy trains, toys, and scenic elements. On view October 30, 2015 through February 28, 2016, Holiday Express: Trains and Toys from the Jerni Collection celebrates the beauty and allure of toys from a bygone era.
“This exhibition will engage visitors in the thrill and joy of trains while conveying the important history of American industry—for example, how train tracks replaced waterways as the most popular mode of transport for people and goods,” stated Dr. Louise Mirrer, President and CEO of the New-York Historical Society. “With the pounding of the golden spike in 1869, the First Transcontinental Railroad was complete, spurring migration across the continent and forever transforming the American landscape. Locomotives rapidly traversed the terrain, connecting the U.S. heartland to East Coast factories, shipyards, and piers. In urban centers such as New York, local railways, both elevated and underground, allowed for the first rapid, public intercity transport. ”
Holiday Express begins at New-York Historical’s West 77th Street entrance, where movement and sound from four large-scale multimedia screens create the illusion of locomotives roaring through the rotunda. The exhibition winds throughout the first floor Berkowitz Sculpture Court and Smith Gallery and down to the DiMenna Children’s History Museum on the lower level, including creative exhibition displays of more than 300 pieces. Among them are eight overhead trains with an additional three locomotives operating in a display showcasing classic American trains and toys. Interactive elements, including a crawl-through space leading to a pop-up semi-sphere, allow children to get an up-close-and personal view of the displays.
Theatrical lighting, a steam engine locomotive “soundscape,” and picturesque backdrops—including mountain tunnels, stately stations, and other imaginative scenery—immerse the visitor in the whimsical history of children’s toys. Among the artifacts on view are 11 classic Lionel trains that chug along more than 400 linear feet of tracks twisting and turning overhead.
Since its acquisition by New-York Historical Society last year, the Jerni Collection has become a highlight of the Museum’s holdings. Assembled over the course of five decades by U.S. collectors Jerry and Nina Greene, the Jerni Collection is considered one of the world’s leading collections of antique trains and toys. The Jerni Collection includes unique, hand-crafted and hand-painted pieces dating from approximately 1850 to 1940, featuring prime examples by the leading manufacturers that set the standard for the Golden Age of Toy Trains, including the German firms of Märklin and Bing, as well as the American firms Lionel and Ives.
Holiday Express: Trains and Toys from the Jerni Collection was curated by Mike Thornton, Assistant Curator for Material Culture at the New-York Historical Society.
