Melissa Porter-Nolan’s Edwardian Toy Iron

“Here is the toy iron. It’s C.1910. and of French origin. The Dublin lady who gave it to me was 84 years old and said she got it when she was about 4 years of age.

She recalled ironing alongside her grandmother and receiving it as a Christmas gift.

She had no family to pass this on to. It was a treasured possession and memory to her. She asked me if I would take it from her and I was happy to do so. That was about 2012, at the Doll’s Hospital which was in Powerscourt, Sth William Street at the time.”

Melissa Porter-Nolan

Museum of Childhood Ireland with long-time supporter Melissa’s blessing, will revive the much loved and sadly missed Dublin Doll Hospital as a Toy Hospital, and with sustainable Toy Repair Workshops.

Item donated to MCI Collections by Melissa Porter-Nolan. Date, 4th February 2025. TC30001

See below for some articles you might be interested in exploring:

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2017/1208/925672-the-gender-divide-in-toys-is-about-more-than-just-childs-play

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000079949

https://www.objectlessons.org/childhood-and-games-victorians/toy-whisk-victorian-original/s67/a1070