MAKE History: Gilbert Moves the World

Eli Whitney Museum

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Vacation Program

  • Friday, November 11, 2016
  • 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
  • Designed for ages 9 to 12
  • By Andrew Sargent, Site Historian & Lead Educator

A.C. gilbert introduced the Erector Set just over 100 years ago.

Fifty years ago, the classic steel construction set's popularity was in decline. Recent research has uncovered a lively experiment mean to expand interest in the years of Erector's decline. In 1962, students at Cooper Union, a prominent art school in New York, were encouraged to make are of the Erector girders, nuts, bolts, wheels and axles. Their wild, beautiful constructions must have shocked Erector traditionalists.

On Veterans Day, we will repeat the Cooper Union experiment. Learn the basics of Erector construction. Decode drawings, identify and assemble parts. Then choose from a treasury of parts to create your own free-style sculpture. The authentic gilbert parts that you use will be yours to take home.


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