The Acquisitions Table: The Game of Jack of All Trades

The Game of Jack of All Trades. New York: McLoughlin Bros., ca. 1900.
This is a welcome addition to our holdings of McLoughlin Bros. games. McLoughlin published an extensive line of small boxed card games, like Jack of All Trades. Games and picture books about professions and trades were used since the late eighteenth century to teach children about various ways of pursuing a living. In this case, most of the occupations represented are male, including the pleading attorney and rather drunken looking machinist. Some female trades are present, including the seamstress and milliner, although both women look like sour faced spinsters. Cultural artifacts of childhood like The Game of Jack of All Trades reveal a great deal about prevailing attitudes toward gender and specific occupations.