The Fall of Erector Tower
In 1911, New Haven resident and aspiring prestidigitator A.C. Gilbert was on the way to New York City to sell a line of magic-trick kits he had designed when he noticed a series of steel structures being erected around his train. The New Haven-New York line was transitioning from steam to electric power and these steel girders held the wires through which the current was to reach the locomotive. Inspiration struck: rather than designing kits for the mastery of illusions, Gilbert would instead create toys for the mastery of this emerging infrastructure. Specifically, he designed the Erector Set, a construction toy that contained all the components of the catenary lines in miniature. In playing with the Erector Set’s model trusses and girders, Gilbert believed, a young boy would come to learn the principles of his new electromechanical world and consequently grow up to be a productive contributor to his society.
Not all of Gilbert’s customers, however, were able to translate their mastery of construction toys to the messy realities of actual life. The Fall of Erector Tower examines those Erector aficionados who grew up not to become engineers or architects but toy collectors. These are the individuals who misread the model as reality and remained within the hermetically sealed world of their childhood playthings. If Gilbert hoped his customers would become captains of industry, enacting their visions upon the earth, these individuals instead limit their constructions to inconsequential fantasy realms; their structures always remain miniature and are only ever unveiled on online message boards or upon folding tables at Erector conventions. But in light of the present state of the planet—rendered ruinous and chaotic by the runaway effects of industrialization—might it be the case that Gilbert’s vision of mastery was the true fantasy?
16 pages 22.75 x 28 inches.
published: Nov 2023
In 1911, New Haven resident and aspiring prestidigitator A.C. Gilbert was on the way to New York City to sell a line of magic-trick kits he had designed when he noticed a series of steel structures being erected around his train. The New Haven-New York line was transitioning from steam to electric power and these steel girders held the wires through which the current was to reach the locomotive. Inspiration struck: rather than designing kits for the mastery of illusions, Gilbert would instead create toys for the mastery of this emerging infrastructure. Specifically, he designed the Erector Set, a construction toy that contained all the components of the catenary lines in miniature. In playing with the Erector Set’s model trusses and girders, Gilbert believed, a young boy would come to learn the principles of his new electromechanical world and consequently grow up to be a productive contributor to his society.
Not all of Gilbert’s customers, however, were able to translate their mastery of construction toys to the messy realities of actual life. The Fall of Erector Tower examines those Erector aficionados who grew up not to become engineers or architects but toy collectors. These are the individuals who misread the model as reality and remained within the hermetically sealed world of their childhood playthings. If Gilbert hoped his customers would become captains of industry, enacting their visions upon the earth, these individuals instead limit their constructions to inconsequential fantasy realms; their structures always remain miniature and are only ever unveiled on online message boards or upon folding tables at Erector conventions. But in light of the present state of the planet—rendered ruinous and chaotic by the runaway effects of industrialization—might it be the case that Gilbert’s vision of mastery was the true fantasy?
16 pages 22.75 x 28 inches.
published: Nov 2023