An exhibition of 1950s childhood will open this week at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
Down Memory Lane: Childhood in the 1950s at the Museum of Decorative Arts and History in Collins Barracks, will feature objects from the Irish Folklife collection, normally based in the museum's Mayo centre, and will cover various aspects of childhood.
Items related to birth and christening, bedtime, food and drink, health and grooming, schooldays and leisure time, are included along with a selection of photographs from the 1950s donated to the museum.
Traditional toys play a big part in the exhibition, with 1950s versions of games that are still around today, such as ludo and dominos, along with toys not seen so often, such as catapults, spinning tops and popguns.
The exhibition was collated by Clodagh Doyle, assistant keeper of the Irish Folklife division of the national museum in Castlebar. She drew the items from the Castlebar collection and also interviewed people about their memories.
She expects the toy section to be especially popular.
"The traditional toy section is lovely - everyone can remember something from it," she said. "And children will enjoy it too."
Under the theme of birth and christening, a collection of cradles and cribs of the time are on display along with glass feeding bottles, potties, swaddling clothes and christening gowns.
Among the more unusual items is a caul donated to the museum and supposed to bring good luck.
"If you were born with a caul it meant you were born in water and it meant you would never drown," Ms Doyle said. "Fishermen would consider it lucky and some still keep a caul on their boats."
Photographs of the time are mounted on panels alongside memories of childhood from people who donated them.
Among the most charming is a memory from Carmel Hickey (née Dunne) who grew up in Rahan, Co Offaly. She recalls a visit to Howth.
"At the Hill of Howth, I saw the sea for the very first time, when I was around 11 years old. I couldn't get over that there was no end to it. It was hard to see where the sky began and the sea ended."
The exhibition will be launched tomorrow by journalist Vincent Browne and will be open to the public from Friday, free of charge. The museum's education department will also run a number of events to coincide with it.
