Toy, Push
Object number2021.18.1
Date1945-1949
MediumWood; Metal; Paint; Wood glue
Credit LineGift of Jean Crawford
DescriptionHandmade push toy. Simplistic gray painted wooden pelican with red (faded) painted wooden beak and red and black eyes. Pelican is mounted atop a brown wooden base with two ribbed wheels at the front and long, cylindrical pushing handle at the rear. Beak opens and closes via metal mechanical elements when toy is pushed or pulled.DimensionsHeight x Width x Length: 13.25 x 5.688 x 32.25 in. (33.7 x 14.4 x 81.9 cm)Historical NotesLouis Michael designed and crafted this pelican toy for his young daughter, Jean Michael, as a Christmas gift in the late 1940s. She called it “Pelky.” Louis Michael was an engineer in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the Penn State University College of Engineering in 1925. He initially worked for American Sheet and Tin Plate Company in Pittsburgh, then for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company subsidiary Duplate Corporation in Creighton, Pennsylvania, and then for the Blaw Knox Company Road Machinery Department. He lost his job in Great Depression-era cutbacks in 1932 and moved through various jobs between Uniontown and Pittsburgh until 1942, when he took a position with the Civil Service Commission in Virginia.
Previous owner
Jean Crawford
Related institution
Pennsylvania State University
Related institution
Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company
(1883 - 1968)
Related institution
Blawnox Company
Related institution
American Sheet and Tin Plate Company
Related institution
Duplate Corporation
On View
Not on view
Hamilton Manufacturing Company
1950
1968-2001
1968-2001
Wolverine Supply and Manufacturing Company
