Trains and Toys: The Jerni Collection

Assembled over fifty years by Brooklyn native Jerry Greene and his wife Nina, the Jerni Collection contains 9,077 individual toy trains, stations, figures, and other transportation toys created in Europe and the United States. Spanning a century of production, this collection captures the international obsession with the railroad at a time when mechanical toys prepared children to live and work in an increasingly industrial world.

Acquired by the New-York Historical Society in 2014, the Jerni Collection is featured in our annual Holiday Express exhibition. Cataloging and digitization of the Jerni Collection was generously supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.