Working at The Strong museum sometimes involves surprises—of the good kind. That was the case when I received an inquiry about the potential donation of a set of hand-carved Alice in Wonderland figures. “Please tell me more,” I responded. What I discovered proved to be a fascinating story of a creative individual who pursued play in numerous dimensions of his life—something ideal for the collection of the National Museum of Play.
Michael Cubitt (1899–1989) worked as a […]
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Preserving Rubber Toys
Rubber has been used to play ball since the first Mesoamerican ball games of the Olmec people began around 3,000 years ago. The ball courts used for that game can be visited at Tulum, Ek Balam, and Coba in Mexico. The Olmec discovered that latex from a rubber tree could be mixed with juice from a species of morning glory to produce a useable rubber. The rubber was formed into hollow and solid balls for the ancient game, but very […]
Collection of Street Photographer Martha Cooper
The Strong recently acquired the photographica collection of world-renowned photojournalist Martha Cooper. Kodakgirl, the nickname given to Cooper by New York City B-boys and B-girls, began collecting with a focus on women with cameras and Kodak advertising in the 1970s. Her collection also grew to include photography-related postcards, valentines, snapshots, doll cameras, figures, wind-ups, play cameras, and figurines. To delve into the significance of the collection, it’s helpful to become familiar with the impact of Cooper’s own work.
Following World War […]
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Game Saves: Unreleased Gremlins The Arcade Game by Atari
Digital Games Curator Andrew Borman uncovers the history of Atari’s Gremlins The Arcade Game, from its initial conception in 1983 to its cancellation in 1985.
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Remembering Educator and Play Advocate Vivian Gussin Paley, 1929–2019
Vivian Gussin Paley, the teacher, author, and advocate for the importance of play for young children, died on July 26, 2019. She was a charter member of the editorial advisory board of the American Journal of Play and The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play cares for a collection of her personal papers. Her pioneering technique of storytelling and story acting in the early childhood classroom earned her a MacArthur “genius” grant in 1989 and influenced […]
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Clones in the Archives: Console and Software Cloning Practices in the Early Years of Video Games
Ian Larson, 2019 Strong Research Fellow
PhD Student, University of California, Irvine; Irvine, California
Any new popular device is bound to have its share of imitators and copycats. This certainly was the case in 1972 after Ralph H. Baer and Magnavox released the first-ever home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey. While Baer’s Odyssey failed to spark a revolution, one of its many games, Table Tennis, would become the inspiration for the game that did: Nolan Bushnell and Atari’s PONG, the first […]
Coloring Fun: National Toy Hall of Fame Inducts Coloring Book
Crayola Crayons were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame way back in 1998, the first year of the Toy Hall’s existence. So it was well deserved when coloring books entered the National Toy Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2019. Coloring books have been around for more than a century and they mark a special time in childhood when one of the simplest toys can offer hours of entertainment and satisfaction. It turns […]
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Masculine Discourse, Role Playing Games, & Help Seeking—Taming Dragon Magazine
Steven Dashiell, 2019 Mary Valentine-Andrew Cosman Research Fellow
PhD candidate, University of Maryland Baltimore County
My dissertation concerns the discourses of male student veterans, examining their discourses concerning their perceptions of marginalization on campus. However, I have always had an interest in research surrounding gaming, specifically the newer games of strategy that fall into the categories of role-playing games (RPGs) and collectible card games. I am fascinated by how players interact and interface with each other while they are engaged in the […]
Armchair Generals Past, Present, and Future: A Short History of Wargaming
In 2018, The Strong received a donation of thousands of artifacts, including first-edition strategy and simulation games, wargames, and role-playing games from Darwin Bromley, co-founder of Mayfair Games. The artifacts constituted the single largest gift the to the museum’s collection and will help scholars understand the importance and influence of a transitional era in games, charting their effect on the development of contemporary examples and on video games.
Darwin Bromley began playing and collecting games with his brother, Peter, […]
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