Popular Culture Archive

During the first few years after the introduction of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) in 1973, Gary Gygax, who had the strongest impact on the fantasy elements of the game, denied any direct influences from fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien. Many players recognized immediately that numerous D&D character and creature names came directly from the books. But it took until 1977 for intellectual property lawyers from a firm which had licensed the rights to Tolkien’s work to send a cease-and-desist […]

Continue Reading about Cease-and-Desist: Don’t Mess with Tolkien Published on:
April 22, 2021

Is our destiny in our hands, in God’s hands, or are we merely tossed on the winds of chance?
Those deep questions of causality and chance have long preoccupied philosophers and thinkers, and I was reminded of them a while ago when reading a book about 17th-century Puritan belief. This followed a conversation I had with a researcher at The Strong who was interested in the links between popular understandings of quantum mechanics and thinking about play. “God doesn’t play dice,” […]

Continue Reading about The Play of Fortune Published on:
April 16, 2021

The question I hear most as supervisor of live collections is, “Where do you get all these butterflies?”

Any guest who has marveled at the hundreds of tropical insects flying around our Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden has probably had the thought at some point. Many guests assume we breed butterflies and caterpillars on site, while others ask if we go out and capture adult butterflies in nature ourselves. While I love the idea of spending my days frolicking through a meadow […]

Continue Reading about Where Do The Strong’s Butterflies Come From? Published on:
April 12, 2021

Born in 1895, Bertha (Beatrice) Alexander Behrman grew up living above her stepfather’s doll hospital at 405 Grand Street on New York’s Lower East Side. Dolls at that time were made of china and broke easily, so her family kept busy repairing dolls for wealthy clients. Beatrice worked in the shop and, at the age of 11, realized that she wanted to live like their customers. Reflecting later on that determination, she noted, “I wanted to have a […]

Continue Reading about Madame Alexander: Feminism in the Doll Industry Published on:
March 30, 2021

Ride-on toys, or kiddie cars, first appeared on the paved sidewalks and driveways of America in the early 20th century. Over the years, ride-ons have included cars, trucks, tractors, grasshoppers, worms, sneakers, you name it. Whatever their era or style, ride-on vehicles provide kids with a sense of independence and adventure, while also cultivating physical and mental skills.
The earliest ride-ons depicted animals such as swans and horses. The examples made around World War I often reflected the patriotism […]

Continue Reading about Revved Up and Ready to Roll: Manual-Powered Ride-On Toys Published on:
March 11, 2021

Who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt?

Whether we’re children or adults, there’s something irresistible about following a trail of clues (a map makes it easier and more fun) to some hidden cache that promises untold riches. Most often treasure hunts live only in the world of fiction—Treasure Island with its memorable characters Long John Silver, Jim Hawkins, Billy Bones, and Captain Flint—set the mold that has been imitated by countless books and movies such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, […]

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March 5, 2021

 

Have you ever played hockey with miniature stick-wielding players and a thumbnail-sized puck on a three-foot table covered by a plastic dome? If so, you have probably played Innovative Concepts in Entertainment’s (ICE) Chexx (or later Super Chexx) “bubble hockey” arcade games. First released in 1982, the iconic game is, in part, the work of Ralph Coppola (1948–2018), who, along with business partner Jack Willert refined David M. Barcelou’s initial invention and brought it to market. Over the course of […]

Continue Reading about The Coin-op Industry Legacy of ICE President Ralph Coppola Published on:
February 25, 2021

Eva Nwokah, 2019 G. Rollie Adams Research Fellow
Professor, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, Texas
 
My current research is focused on how animals in children’s literature are portrayed with human characteristics through what they wear and what they say—in other words, animals that are anthropomorphized. Why do children find that animals speak and behave like humans appealing? This playful aspect of stories encourages children’s imagination, holds their attention with silly images, and has been used by authors […]

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February 19, 2021

Born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1931, Charles Harrison spent his childhood playing with model airplanes and Erector sets. His father taught industrial arts and his mother decorated the home with a keen eye for design. Inspired by his parents, Harrison built different structures and mechanisms to make his toys move and lift. In an interview with Smithsonian Magazine, Harrison recalled, “I built a boat once—took it out to the pond, put it in there and it sank with […]

Continue Reading about Charles Harrison: The Black Industrial Designer Who Revamped View-Master Published on:
February 10, 2021