One would do well to look over some history before venturing to the miniature soldier collection in the John Hay Library. Tucked away behind closed doors in a gallery on the third floor of the Hay lies this unique and wondrous display of over 5,000 miniature lead soldiers and historical figures, part of the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection.
Here, in cases on permanent display, are symbols of the fruits of centuries - predominately the 16th century to 1945 - of human effort and expenditure devoted to a single pursuit. The collection ranges from mass-produced, plain-featured children's toys to intricate historical scenes personally commissioned by Anne S.K. Brown, who donated her vast military collection to the University in 1981, four years before her death.
Contained here, in the meticulously constructed figurines, is seemingly every permutation of attire, cap, helmet, gun, sword, vehicle and animal that men of every race and every epoch in modern history have deemed fit for war. From "Prince Albert's Own" Hussars, dismounted, to the Red cavalry of 1918. From the French Dromedary Corps, circa 1800, to Zulu warriors. From Nazi motorcyclists to Confederate infantry.
The craftsmen who made these figures achieved an astonishing verisimilitude, down to a dab of pink on a soldier's cheek, the hollering of an angry elephant and a military standard flapping, as though in the wind.
A highlight of the collection is an elegant piece depicting two French soldiers in the retreat from Moscow in 1812. A drum lies on the snowy ground and the pale hand of a corpse protrudes from a snow bank. One man leads the other, atop a dark horse, which takes a reluctant step forward. Both men look dejected, their tattered winter uniforms covered in frost.
There is also Henry VIII with his six doomed wives, Washington and Lafayette at Yorktown and the stately emperor of Ethiopia in 1934, protected from the sun by an attendant with a long red umbrella. Robert E. Lee is cast as a fierce, mean-looking man in stride, musket and sword in hand.
These toys will transport a willing visitor from his thoughts and worries. To see the processions and the splendor of so many nations spanning so many years in one room has this effect - even unfamiliar figures garner equal attention.
It is oddly comforting to imagine times when a harsh winter could repel an imperial army and when Americans fought for independence, and to think those events are fewer generations removed from today than it sometimes seems.
In one case, amidst the figurines, are a set of simple, dirty objects that look more like chessmen than toy soldiers. A closer look at the label, though, reveals that these are a set of general's map-markers actually used by Napoleon to plan his campaigns. It is worth a trip to the Hay to see these markers alone.
