A squirt gun could turn a basement, backyard, or summer afternoon into a battlefield.
Children didn’t need much. A plastic water gun, a few friends, and an agreement about the rules were enough to create an entire adventure.
The object itself was inexpensive and temporary. The memories were not.
American Material Memory is filled with objects like this because they represent a particularly uncomplicated form of childhood fun—physical, social, slightly mischievous, and completely dependent on imagination.
From the Artist:
I remember playing in the basement of my Grandma and Grandpa Carter’s house in Royal Oak, Michigan, when we were kids.
One of the things they had in the play box for all of the grandkids was these cool squirt guns. I remember we once put Grandma’s perfume in them. The basement never smelled so good.
The squirt guns disappeared after that.
A squirt gun could turn a basement, backyard, or summer afternoon into a battlefield.
Children didn’t need much. A plastic water gun, a few friends, and an agreement about the rules were enough to create an entire adventure.
The object itself was inexpensive and temporary. The memories were not.
American Material Memory is filled with objects like this because they represent a particularly uncomplicated form of childhood fun—physical, social, slightly mischievous, and completely dependent on imagination.
From the Artist:
I remember playing in the basement of my Grandma and Grandpa Carter’s house in Royal Oak, Michigan, when we were kids.
One of the things they had in the play box for all of the grandkids was these cool squirt guns. I remember we once put Grandma’s perfume in them. The basement never smelled so good.
The squirt guns disappeared after that.
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