The Indiana University Lilly Library and the Digital Library Program present the online Jerry Slocum Mechanical Puzzle Collection, which embodies a lifetime pursuit for the intriguing, the perplexing, and the compelling. Unlike word or jigsaw puzzles, mechanical puzzles are hand-held objects that must be manipulated to achieve a specific goal. The Rubik's cube and tangrams are popular examples. Confounding and delightful, precise and whimsical, the puzzles in the Slocum collection represent centuries of mathematical, social, and recreational history from across five continents.
When complete, the Slocum collection database will allow researchers and puzzle enthusiasts to search and browse the largest assemblage of its kind in the world, with over 30,000 puzzles. The puzzle classification system used in this database was developed by Jerry Slocum on the basis of a scheme set out by Professor Angelo Louis Hoffmann in the now-classic 1893 book, Puzzles Old and New, and has been adopted by puzzle collectors and enthusiasts in several countries.
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