June 26, 2007
For additional information or high resolution images:
Contact: Susan Trien, 585-410-6359, strien@museumofplay.org

Baby-Boom Facts
Excerpted from the Exhibit Child’s Play on the Crabgrass Frontier:
The Baby-Boom Cartoons of Stan and Jan Berenstain

Beginning Friday, July 20, the Berenstains’ early work, inspired by their own experiences as parents in the post-war baby boom era, can be seen, savored, and chuckled at in a new exhibit Child’s Play on the Crabgrass Frontier: The Baby-Boom Cartoons of Stan and Jan Berenstain, produced by Strong National Museum of Play® in partnership with the Berenstain Family. On view are 86 original Berenstain drawings and Collier’s magazine covers from the 1950s and 1960s that evoke the baby-boom era.

• Between 1946 and 1964, about 76.4 million American babies were born.

• From the 1930s to the early 1950s, school enrollment remained about even. But between 1948 and 1953, more children were born than in the preceding thirty years.

• The number of American supermarkets doubled between 1948 and 1958. They grew larger and carried an average of about four thousand items in their inventories.

• In 1944, new Home | Plan A Visit | Things to Do & See | About Us | School Programs | Just For Kids | About Play | Membership | Press Room | Contact | Employment | Join Our E-mail List © 2007 - Strong National Museum of Play ® - All Rights Reservedstarts numbered 114,000. In 1950, 1.7 million.

• In 1952, the federal Office of Education found overcrowding in six of every ten classrooms.

• The population of the United States grew more in 1954 than in any year in American history.

• By 1958 a third of the country was younger than 15. —more— 2—Boomer Facts • During the Davy Crockett craze, parents bought 4 million Davy Crockett records and 14 million Davy Crockett books. And who knows how many moccasins, lunch buckets, and trading cards! Coonskin caps became so popular that the price of raccoon tails skyrocketed from 25 cents to $8 a pound.

• In 1959. nearly half of American brides were younger than 19.

• Americans bought $50 million worth of diapers in 1957.

• By 1959. only about one in three college students were women. Nearly two in five left college before graduating.

• In 1959 two million new students enrolled in American schools. • By 1960, 60% of American families owned their own homes compared to only about half in 1945.

• By 1964. four in ten Americans were younger than twenty.

• Three other countries experienced post-war baby booms: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Strong National Museum of Play®, located in downtown Rochester, New York, is the only museum in the world devoted to the study of play as it illuminates American popular culture.

Hours:
Monday–Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.;
Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Sunday, 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
Admission Fees:
General Admission (does not include Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden™):
Adults $9.00; Seniors $8.00; Children (2–17) $7.00; Children younger than two free; Strong members free.
Admission to Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden™:
General Admission fee plus $3.00 per person for members and nonmembers; Children younger than two free.
Due to limited capacity, entry to Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden™ is by timed tickets only. Advance purchase is recommended. Please call 585-263-2700 to purchase timed tickets.