The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur
Museum, Winterthur, DE 19735
302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: Dawson, Sadie Josephine.
Title: Party games commonplace book
Dates: 1906
Call No.: Doc. 1570
Acc. No.: 08x72
Quantity: 1 volume
Location: 31 I
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Sadie Josephine Dawson lived
in
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
Sadie Josephine Dawson
recorded games, party amusements, and entertainment ideas in this notebook,
dated 1906. It is not known if these
were games she played, or if she just collected the games for possible
use. Directions and answers are given. Some of the items were removed from
magazines, but most are handwritten. A
number of the items are Halloween games, and a number of those relate to
fortune telling, especially foretelling the name of a spouse or the time when
one was to be married. Other games or
entertainment ideas are for New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day,
the Fourth of July, and Christmas, and also for church bazaars, weddings, and
wedding anniversaries. Many of the games
are suitable for young adults, some are for married couples, while others are
indeed intended for children.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Purchased from Dan Casavant Rare Books.
ACCESS POINTS
Topics:
Amusements.
Bible games and puzzles.
Children’s
parties.
Christmas.
Entertaining.
Fortune-telling.
Fourth of July.
Games.
Geographical recreations.
Halloween.
Holidays.
Indoor games.
Manners and customs.
Marriage customs and rites.
New Year.
Puzzles.
Saint Patrick’s Day.
Valentine’s Day.
Wedding anniversaries.
Young adults.
Commonplace-books.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
[note: where
there was one, the name or title of the game is given; if there were no title,
then a very brief description of the game is given]
Conundrum Tea
1
Independence Day Needs 2-3
Musical Romance
4-5
Variety of Little Misses 6-7
Forfeits 7-9 (p. 7 is crossed out, but still
legible)
Nut Conundrums
10
The Bishop’s Riddle
12-14
Mrs. McTavish has Fainted Away 15
“For Girls,” an
article by Anna Ogden, with Christmas suggestions: “Mother Goose” for a Sunday
School festival, decorations, gifts, entertainment, dresses, hatpin
holders 16
Printed: Queer Trick with Figures, Give and Take
[game with matches], Amusing Feat [kicking a cork], Entertaining House
Parties 17
Printed: Clothes Pins [game], Living Statues, Letter
Seeking, Cat and Mouse, Fair Exchange is No Robbery, Flag Raising for Charity,
workbag directions 18
Printed: A Successful Dinner Party, Wild Huntsman or
Bang [game], Beanbag 19 (these were
pasted over verses)
Printed: Ho for Hallowe’en (ideas for parties),
End-letter Game, Mirth [game], Predicaments [game], some riddles 20
Printed: at head of page: Monitor Book of Games;
Fisherman, North Pole, Counting the Dogs, Game of Adjectives, Quotation Bee,
Two in Place of One, Warning 21
Printed: Keep-Face-Straight Party, The Mails,
Weathercocks, A Leaf Party or Social, For Rainy Days 22
Printed: Illustrated Story Telling, Location, It,
Hidden Ring, an authors game, More Conundrums
23
Printed: Ice Carnival party, Old-Fashioned Party, I
Come – You Go, Nut Race 24
Printed (from Monitor Book of Games): Spring Game,
Drawing Uncle Sam, Steeple Chase, Imitation, Secretary, Cutting, Tip,
Word-Making 25
Printed: Evening Spent with the Turk, Buttons Make a
Lively Party 26
Printed: Peanuts Turned into Dolls, Musicians,
Cushion Dance, Here Goes up for Monday, Serpent’s Tail, Quoits 27
End of poem about why a woman hasn’t married 28
(printed items on previous pages have covered the rest of the poem)
Printed: cooking party, offering hospitality 29
A Very Comical Pantomime Charade 30-31
Musical Term [sic] Illustrated 32-33
Tulip bed for hiding surprise packages 33
Halloween: Witchery; Touch Stone Charm; fortune
telling with saucers 34-35
Halloween: Home or Travel; a geographical alphabet
game; Bobbing for Apples, Raisin Test [for marriage] 36-37
A poem about telling fate from charms placed in a
cake (poem partially obscured by a printed item, which was later removed) 38
Halloween: “The witch may cause much
amusement…” 39
Halloween: A Weal or Woe Test; Pumpkin Alphabet;
Fortune Hunting; Jumping Contest [for marriage]; Threading a Needle [for
marriage] 40-42
Imitation (crossed out and incomplete) 43
Halloween: Imitations 44
Halloween: party invitation, reception and
introduction at party, using candles to tell how long before marriage 45-47
Halloween: Samples of fortune slips; conundrums 48-49
Halloween: Barrel-hoop; a nut game; jack o’lantern
game (initials of marriage partner); Fortune’s Wheel; Spinning Wheel; Magic
Pumpkin; Sentence Forming Fun; fortune telling with colored candles; Beau
Charm; Candle Chorus; a game with candle and apple; marriage fortune game; name
of future partner game 50-62
A Cake Contest
64
“Pen Memories of Last Halloween (1904)” (a poem by
A. S. Chapman) 66-71
“Witch Night, October 31, 1906” (a poem by Arthur
Chapman) 72-74
A Literary Romance
75 and 81
A quotation about a peddler and a tongue
twister 76
A Handkerchief Bazaar 77-78
rhyming invitations to a bazaar 79-80
A Bicycle Accident
82
Alliteration
83
A Culinary Courtship
84-86
The Penny Puzzle
87-89
Illustrated Proverbs
90
The Spring Number of the New Magazine 91-93
Men’s Wives
94-95
The Minister’s Cat
95
Scripture Alphabet
96-99
Christmas candles (game) 100
Spinster’s Tea
101-102
The Most Improbable Story; Words within Words 103-104
Forfeits 104
Utensils of an Old Kitchen 106-104 (incomplete, most answers missing)
Introducin’ Pat
108
Missing letters
110
Living Catalogue [literary game] 111-112
Twisted Animals [scrambled words] 113
Initials
114-115
Halloween: Lines on a Skeleton 116
Halloween: a game predicting time of marriage 117-118
Halloween: a game with a pumpkin 118
The Bundle Game
119
Halloween: a game using the rhyme “Rich man, poor
man, beggar man, …” 120
Halloween: Nut Shower 121
Halloween: to find name of future husband or wife;
quotations 122
Conundrums
123
Water Charm; another water charm 124-125
New Year’s party: invitation, decorations,
games 126-129
Bean Bags 130-131
Rhyming invitation to a Christmas party 131
[see also p. 174]
A Fishing Party
132-137
A Dutch Party
138
A Thread and Needle Race 139-140
Toasts 140-141
Some verses: one for Valentine’s Day, two for
Christmas, and one about being ready to play
142
French Coiffeur
143-144
Strawberry Contest 145-147
Occasion Telegram (for New Year’s Day); Game of
Initials; Telegrams 148-149
A Potato Doll Contest 150
“Write following verses on cards and pass around,
having each one read aloud before performance” (verses instruct the readers to
tell a story, sing a song, tell a joke, etc.)
151-153
Progressive Initials
154-155
Flowers
156-157
Brushing Cobwebs from the Moon [crossed out] 157
Vegetables in Disguise 158-159
Game: throwing a ball through a ring of mistletoe
and into a basket 160
Game” keeping a ball of cotton in the air with
fans 161
A Heart Party
162-164
Halloween: a game using invisible ink 165
Feather Tennis
166-167
Flip, Flap Flummery
167-168
Hearts Triumphant
169-170
Flower Party
171
Measuring Party (rhyming invitation, giving
directions); game involving the identification of famous people; tongue twister
about Theophilus Thistle 172-173
Rhyming invitation to a Christmas party (crossed
out; same as on p. 131) 174
Snip 174-175
For A Heart Party
176-177
A list, probably of articles about holidays or
holiday parties, from various magazines, 1900-1905 178-179
Game with a ball [crossed out, and partially covered
by an article which was later torn out] 180
List of titles and things that could represent them
(such as a pair of scales to represent Justice); jackstraws; horse shoe
hunt 181
Riddles about Cupid
182-183
Questions, some about
Directions for a game(?) 187
Printed: “A May-Pole Carnival” 188
Printed: “Good Form and Entertainment” (suggestions
for parties and weddings) 189
List of games and first names of girls 190
Printed: suggestions for weddings, 10th
wedding anniversary, and some games with peanuts; suggestions for favors for
wooden wedding anniversary party 193
Printed: “Seven Little Workers: A Playet in Verse” [house keeping play for children] 194
Printed: “Good Form and Entertainment” (suggestions
for weddings and entertainments, including a
Printed: “Papier-Mache Work for Our Boys and
Girls” 196
List of games; printed: suggestions for Halloween
party and Leap Year social 197
Printed: various games (including some for
Halloween), conundrums, The Game of Scissors, A Parlor Trick, The Wheel of
Chance, The Lucky boys Problem, a picture puzzle 198-199
List of books and magazine articles with games 200 and back flyleaf