Item HT 19285 Packet - N****r Boy Steel Wool Soap Pads, circa 1950s

Summary

Note: This object is a derogatory depiction of a particular cultural group. Such depictions are not condoned by Museums Victoria which considers them to be racist. Historical distance and context do not excuse or erase this fact.

Packet of N****r Boy Steel Wool Soap Pads, used and owned by Bill Boyd in the 1950s. It represents one of many brands which used the word 'N****r' to sell and promote products during the 1950s and 1960s. It demonstrates how African American stereotypes and slurs have been imported and reused in Australia.

The William Boyd Childhood Collection includes most of the childhood possessions of William (Bill) Boyd, who was born in 1947 and raised in the Victorian town of Maryborough. Kept by Lillian Boyd (Bill's mother) for decades, upon her death the Collection was donated by Bill to the former Museum of Childhood at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. When the Museum of Childhood closed it was transferred to Museum Victoria.

Physical Description

Rectangular yellow box with steel wool pads inside. The box has a picture of a young black boy, winking and with a big smile on two sides and a lady's hand scrubbing with a steel wool pad on the other sides. There is extensive text in yellow, black, red and white on the box.

Significance

Encompassing toys, books, clothing and other items, the William Boyd Childhood Collection is rare in its comprehensiveness: even ephemera such as the back of a Cornflakes box are included. The Collection demonstrates a range of prominent themes in the lives of postwar Victorian children, such as the ability to 'make do' under austere circumstances; the shift in toy manufacture towards plastic materials and mass production; the continuing cultural influence of Britain; the increasing embrace of American popular culture; the prominence of gender roles; and the popularity of transport and war themed toys for boys.