Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives Fact SheetThe Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play® is a multidisciplinary research repository devoted to the intellectual, social, and cultural history of play. In addition to housing the personal library and papers of its preeminent namesake, the 227,000-volume research library and archives holds a full spectrum of primary and secondary sources, including scholarly works, professional journals, other periodicals, trade catalogs, children’s books, comic books, manuscripts, personal papers, business records, and more.
Named for America’s Foremost Play Scholar
Brian Sutton-Smith (1924–2015) was one of the foremost play scholars of the last 100 years. His The Ambiguity of Play (1987) stands alongside Johann Huizinga’s Homo Ludens (1938) and Roger Caillois’s Man Play and Games (1961) as a touchstone of play theory. For more than half a century, in more than 350 books and articles, Sutton-Smith has led or synthesized all the major advances in play studies. His collected works, papers, and personal library are a key element of the Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play, and they symbolize the import of its holdings.
Key Holdings
The holdings of the Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play encompass a broad range of materials and play-related topics, including collections gathered and cared for through the work of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games. The collections are especially strong in regard to the history of toys, dolls, video games, other electronic games, board games, and puzzles. Also included are significant holdings reflecting the work of leading American scholars and educators in the fields of play and early childhood education.
Situated at The Strong
The Strong is the only collections-based museum in the world devoted solely to play and holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of dolls, toys, games, electronic games, and other artifacts of play. The Strong explores the ways in which play encourages learning, creativity, and discovery and illuminates cultural history.