Jigsaw Puzzles have an extensive and unique history, and consequently this section needs its own introduction.
Specialized knowledge is required to present information about jigsaw puzzles, thus the Museum invited Dr. Anne D. Williams, a noted puzzle collector and author to be a guest curator for this section of the Website.
Williams is the author of Jigsaw Puzzles: An Illustrated History and Price Guide, Radnor PA: Wallace-Homestead/Chilton, 1990 which is now out-of-print, but is available in many libraries. Her newest book - The Jigsaw Puzzle: Piecing together A History, New York: Berkley Books, 2004, is available in most major bookstores.
To read about the history of "the jigsaw puzzle" in a special essay written by Dr. Williams, please click on the icon on the left, and then come back to this page to continue to view information about jigsaw puzzles.
In addition to her "day job" as an academic at Bates College in Maine, Dr. Williams is the Archivist of the Game and Puzzle Collectors Association.
On the following Webpages, by using photographs of jigsaw puzzles in the collection and elsewhere, Williams offers a guided tour of jigsaw puzzles through time, how they were and are made, factors about the economics of the jigsaw puzzle industry, and much more - including links to some contemporary commercial jigsaw manufacturers.
To find out about a specific topic, and to see detailed photographs of jigsaw puzzles, click on on any of the content titles listed in the left menu panel.
Last update April 2, 2010