they were not considered public spaces. closely resembles adults’ horse-drawn riages allowed for a seemingly endless The quantity of toys and amusements carriages of the day. By the 1890s, wickvariety of elaborate designs, giving parprobably reflected the wealth and materier baby carriages were by far the most ents an opportunity to display their al comfort of the family. popular. The flexibility of the natural infants in an elegant yet affordable setOne of the simplest furnishings in the materials used in making wicker carting. The wicker carriage on display was exhibition is a child’s laddermade by Heywood Brothers back chair that might well have and Wakefield Company, one been used in a nursery. Ladder- People of every generation of the nation’s largest manuback chairs were the most typifacturers of wicker furniture in cal form of basic seating in understand the importance of the late nineteenth and early early Staten Island, for adults as providing for children’s safety and twentieth centuries. well as children. This example well-being, and this exhibition While most of the items in was made for Alvin DePuy the exhibition would have (1875-1949) of Staten Island, shows how these same concerns been used in the home, one and a photograph that accompa- have been addressed differently unusual piece of furniture nies the chair shows that it was through the centuries. evokes images of world travel: also used by his daughter, Jane, a child-size steamer chair. In born in 1900. the late 1800s, middle-class Baby carriages are another families increasingly had the form of furnishing that evolved means to travel for pleasure. significantly in the nineteenth This 1860-1900 folding steamcentury. American families of er chair, made of wood with a the late 1800s used ornate baby caned seat, back, and footrest, carriages to proudly display suggests a young boy or girl on their infants to the world. a family outing in the country Uncommon before the 1860s, or a journey aboard a baby carriages enjoyed a drasteamship. Popular destinamatic increase in popularity in tions ranged from upstate New the following decades, as famiYork to the European “Grand lies strolled along the sideTour.” Chairs like this were walks of America’s growing good for use on ships’ decks cities and new suburban develbecause they were steady, opments and promenaded comfortable, and could be along the pathways of local folded when not in use. parks. Viewed together, the artifacts Public presentation of th