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From time to time, my colleagues and I catch a little flack for those “non-traditional” toys that have been nominated or inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame here at The Strong. This includes the stick (inducted in 2008), Bubble Wrap (nominated in 2016), the blanket (inducted in 2011) and of course, the cardboard box (inducted in 2005.) After the stick, I’d wager the cardboard box raises the most eyebrows—although after looking at it a bit more […]

Continue Reading about Sturdily Built: The Playful Longevity of the Cardboard Box. Published on:
August 29, 2018

If someone asked you to name the types of toys girls played with, what would you say? Perhaps you would shout out “Barbies” or “baby dolls” or “pink cuddly toys,” right? Those types of toys have long been associated with girls, while trucks, cars, and blue toys made from hard plastic have been associated with boys. Meanwhile, the United States is struggling to understand why girls are not attracted to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.
When asked to state […]

Continue Reading about Examining 21st Century STEM–related Toys and their Impact on Girls Published on:
August 24, 2018

Following World War II, William Levitt applied techniques of mass production to construction and built neighborhood developments on Long Island. Wartime shortages had crippled the housing industry, but Levitt knew that veterans would be eager to establish a normal life. When the Levitt homes hit the market in 1949, more than 1,400 sold on the first day. Over the years, post-World War II suburbia propelled a new type of domestic design and many Americans exceeded the standard of […]

Continue Reading about Little Boxes: Plasticville Plays at Post-World War II Suburbia Published on:
August 16, 2018

In our new book from the World Video Game Hall of Fame, A History of Video Games in 64 Objects, we faced a challenge. Which objects should we include? The Strong museum, home of the World Video Game Hall of Fame, has hundreds of thousands of objects related to video games in its collections, and so we needed to include just the right mix of artifacts that were important, helped tell the broader history of video games, and would engage […]

Continue Reading about An Expansion Pack for A History of Video Games in 64 Objects Published on:
August 8, 2018

In the 1880s the toymaker Charles Crandall invented a dexterity game a player could hold in one hand. People had likely crafted similar games, often called “ball-in-a-maze” puzzles, for many years. But Crandall’s creation, titled Pigs in Clover, was the first to become popular, sell thousands of units, and cause enough of a stir to be written about and imitated. How did this happen?
Pigs in Clover consists of three concentric cardboard rings fixed to a wood base. The puzzle challenges […]

Continue Reading about The First Mobile Game Goes Viral: Pigs in Clover Published on:
August 1, 2018

If you’re one of the more than half-million visitors to The Strong museum each year, you may have spotted the gallery wall about the life of founder Margaret Woodbury Strong en route to the admissions desk (and later, when you mosey back over to the food court). The museum in its current state grew out of the original collections of dolls, dollhouses, and other playthings amassed and cherished by Margaret Woodbury Strong during her lifetime. Simply put, without Margaret, there […]

Continue Reading about A Museum is Born Published on:
July 24, 2018

Get out your library cards and alert your book club! As far as we’re concerned, National Toy Hall of Fame season never ends, making it a fine time for another edition of Toy Stories: Tales of the Games and Toys We Love. Last year, I recommended books about 11 Toy Hall of Fame inductees and their inventors. This year, dive into four “old-timers” and one new inductee with this fresh reading list!
LEGO, Class of 1998
Named “Toy of the Century” in […]

Continue Reading about More Stories from the National Toy Hall of Fame Published on:
July 13, 2018

In this age of sharing every idle thought online, younger generations might find it hard to believe that publicly documenting one’s own life wasn’t always the norm. The most ancient forms of memory were kept in the oral tradition, and the keepers of records were individuals entrusted with the task of memorizing details and transmitting them through recitation to others. As writing systems developed and literacy rose across the globe, the written record became the rule (and oftentimes, entire groups […]

Continue Reading about Oral Histories in the Archives Published on:
June 29, 2018

As a cycling enthusiast, I was a thrill to see a velocipede—an early form of bicycle—in the conservation lab. Pierre Lallement and Pierre Michaux patented the design for the velocipede in 1866 before Lallement moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and made improvements to the velocipede on his own. He also gave license to American bike-builders for variations of the velocipede. These early wheelmen obsessed over different ways to power a bicycle—steam, electricity, or dog-powered locomotion.
Most velocipedes haven’t survived. They were […]

Continue Reading about Velocipede Ventures Published on:
June 15, 2018