In November 2015, I came from my home in Turin, Italy, to spend a month at The Strong museum working on my research project, “The Meaning of Toys: Creating and Conveying Knowledge through Playful Artifacts.” I was honored to be granted a  Strong Research Fellowship that financed the first half of my stay.

Continue Reading about From Italy to Rochester, Looking for the Meaning of Play Published on:
June 13, 2016

Recently, debates about women and video games have been making the rounds. The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the Colbert Report, for instance, have drawn attention to what it can be like for women in gaming communities. They explain that women face a lot of pushback and find themselves viewed as unwelcome visitors in spaces stereotyped as “for the guys.” Along the way, the nature of video games themselves comes under scrutiny—characterized as hyper-masculine, violent, and sexist. In other […]

Continue Reading about Nancy Drew and the Case of the Girl Gamers Published on:
May 25, 2016

The Strong’s research fellowship program not only provides an opportunity for scholars to view rare material in the museum’s collection and archives, but it also expands the potential for the study of play in academia. Being surrounded by the artifacts of play with which we all have experiential knowledge helped me realize the importance of studying play objects and children’s culture. Although my research focuses specifically on Mattel’s historical production of Black Barbie dolls, The Strong reminded me why my […]

Continue Reading about Finding Race and Play at The Strong Published on:
April 1, 2016

Can you get enough of that Sugar Crisp? Does the crunch always give you away? And are Trix just for kids? Cereal slogans have become embedded in popular culture, and even satirized in television shows. Such slogans were made memorable at the time by the cereal mascots that voiced them in animated commercials. However, these slogans were also often splashed across cereal boxes. Lucky the Leprechaun has been promising that his cereal is magically delicious since 1964 (except for a […]

Continue Reading about They’re Gr-r-r-eat! Cereal Box as Serial Docs Published on:
March 15, 2016

As an “everything” intern at The Strong, I had the privilege of working with different teams within the museum on multiple projects that relate to my education as a history major. Through my work with the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, I became acquainted with the story of the woman behind the museum by examining photographs, diary entries, newspaper articles, and correspondences from different points in her life. Highlights of Margaret Woodbury Strong’s remarkable story can be found […]

Continue Reading about Margaret Woodbury Strong: Collector and Philanthropist Published on:
January 29, 2016

Margaret Strong obviously loved shells and crafts made from shells, judging from the quantity of those items in her collection. In fact, Margaret’s shell collection drew me all the way from my home in Australia to Rochester, New York. While researching The Strong museum’s collection of Victorian shellwork during my research fellowship, I stumbled across a diminutive pair of shell-covered baby booties. The decorative cardboard booties—edged with red velvet fabric and ornamented with shells and shell grit—bear a striking resemblance […]

Continue Reading about Colonial Shell Souvenirs in The Strong: An Australian Connection? Published on:
January 27, 2016

By Emily Aguilo-Perez, 2015 Strong Research Fellow
In August 2015, I received a research fellowship from The Strong that provided funds for me to come to the museum to study artifacts and printed materials from its vast collection. My dissertation work focuses on studying interactions with Barbie among Puerto Rican females, making The Strong the ideal destination to build my understanding of Barbie dolls and other Barbie items. Beyond my scholarly work, I have a long personal history with Barbie. For […]

Continue Reading about Venturing into Barbie’s World Published on:
December 7, 2015

A vacant piano in an empty room sends me a powerful invitation. It’s like someone has left an Aston Martin DB9 Volante with the keys in the ignition and a sign on the dashboard that says, “take me for a spin.” If I come across an unlocked Baby Grand in a hotel lobby, I find the silence too heavy a burden to bear. I can’t pass it by without sitting down to pick out, let’s say, “Sweet Baby James,” “Killing […]

Continue Reading about Plinking, Performing, and the Paradox of Play Published on:
May 9, 2013

In New York, Washington, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Seattle and in many other U.S. cities and cities around the world people have gathered for “Run for Boston” events to offer tribute and support to victims of bombings at this year’s Boston Marathon.

Continue Reading about Run for Boston Published on:
April 22, 2013