Special, Unique, and Rare: Play

Here are just a few of 19 distinct meanings of the word play: active bodily exercise or movement; free action, freedom, opportunity, or room for action; exercise or activity engaged in for enjoyment or recreation; jest, fun, sport; an attempt to achieve or gain; a dramatic or theatrical performance; performance on a musical instrument; the control on a tape player, video recorder, etc.  

There is a whole institute in Carmel, California devoted to the study of play as a state of mind brought about by absorption in an activity that “provides enjoyment and a suspension of sense of time.” The National Institute of Play contends that, “[l]ike sleep, dreams, and nutrition, play is critical to our health and well-being.” 

And yet, somehow, no definition seems capacious enough to describe the trove of rare and unique items chosen by subject specialists from Humanities and Area Studies for the latest pop-up, PLAY. Come see for yourself any time between 2-4 PM on Tuesday, May 13th, Hohbach 123 (Silicon Valley Archive classroom, Green Library).