The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections investigates the evolution
of games since 1800 through PASTIMES AND PARADIGMS : GAMES WE PLAY.
The exhibition includes a wide variety of antique and contemporary
games, as well as rare books on rules, strategies, and recreation.
Featured items include early nineteenth-century geographical board
games; a Civil War game; suffrage games that garnered support in the
battle for women's votes; a vintage Monopoly game (the subject of
Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman's first book); gambling punchboards;
and a selection of games inspired by television programming. Although
they differ in design and presentation, they share a single message:
the game is the medium.
