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Several years ago, friends came to visit and brought along their Australian shepherd/border collie mix and this black Kong dog toy. (Kong toy? The inventor said the toy looked like “an earplug for King Kong,” and the name stuck.) The herder pursued the toy with agility and persistence. Our Charlie the Dog, a mini-goldendoodle (another mutt), inherited the dog toy when our visitors left it behind. Less intent than the shepherd, Charlie still liked the bouncy, chewy thing well enough. […]

Continue Reading about Playing Catch Published on:
September 9, 2016

Shopping. Chances are that word triggers a sensation of either joy or dread in your brain. Love it or loathe it, shopping plays a pretty hefty role in most of our lives, whether it’s a quick trip to the market for some essentials or a day-long event to find that one perfect item. Regardless of your shopping style—necessity or hobby—it’s hard to ignore that shopping represents a large part of our everyday culture, including how we play.
At The Strong, one […]

Continue Reading about A Shopping We Will Go… Published on:
August 26, 2016

Last year, I began processing the Atari Coin-Op Division records, a massive collection The Strong acquired in June 2014. These materials were previously held by a collector who purchased them in 2003 through a sealed-bid auction as Atari Games was liquidating its assets. Housed in four different storage facilities for 11 years, the materials arrived at the museum in boxes that filled 23 wooden pallets. Unloaded from a semi, the pallets went to the climate-controlled storage facility on the museum’s […]

Continue Reading about My Year with Atari Published on:
August 17, 2016

Before I came to The Strong, my exposure to pinball had been limited to the Barbie Shakin’ Pinball handheld video game that I received for Christmas 1995. I have definitely come a long way in my pinball knowledge since then, from learning the proper terms for components I never knew existed (pop bumpers are my favorite) to discovering the game’s tumultuous and sometimes scandalous past (mob connections, anyone?). Once I saw the machines up close, I became fascinated with the […]

Continue Reading about What Do Pinball and Jiminy Cricket Have in Common? Published on:
August 3, 2016

My love of movable books and of antique toys and games containing the richly colored chromolithographs of the last half of the 1800s brought me to The Strong’s Online Collections. I spent four days “oohing” and “ahhing” over the vast archive of images in the museum’s database before I discovered it was possible to view the actual objects by arranging an appointment or, better yet, applying for a fellowship for an in-depth immersion. Although I learned I was the first […]

Continue Reading about Through the Artist’s Eyes Published on:
July 26, 2016

Several years ago as a graduate student, while working on my dissertation, I visited an archive to conduct research on the records of an advertising agency.  As I searched through page after page of the collection’s finding aid, I couldn’t escape a sinking feeling that the archival gems I needed—internal agency memoranda, correspondence, and meeting minutes—were nowhere to be found. Determined to dig deeper, I eventually discovered a company newsletter filled with names, dates, and insights into how the […]

Continue Reading about Why ICHEG Collects Game Company Newsletters and Magazines Published on:
July 25, 2016

“I knit so I don’t kill people.”
You can buy a mug, a tote bag, or a shirt with this phrase emblazoned on it. You can meet a handful of fellow knitters out on the town for World Wide Knit in Public Day or you can share your projects and patterns with the 5.5 million registered users of Ravelry, the social media site for knitters and crocheters. Surprised? You shouldn’t be: knitting, along with other “domestic hobbies,” is exceedingly popular, and […]

Continue Reading about Domestic Hobbies: The Search for Calm in Life’s Storms Published on:
July 15, 2016

Domestic hobbies scratch the play itch—the need for creative expression and for losing yourself in the flow of an activity. In my previous blog, I addressed the therapeutic nature of crafting and the calm that it brings to its practitioners. Creative pursuits can also meet the need for community, for comfort and companionship for the individual and also for the comfort of the greater good, through social causes and charities.
Limited in the roles they could play outside of the home, […]

Continue Reading about Domestic Hobbies: The Fight for Community in the Face of Isolation and Injustice Published on:
July 15, 2016

Knitting, quilting, and other domestic hobbies appear to have experienced a surge in popularity over the past two decades. Perhaps it is more accurate to state that they have experienced a surge in visibility thanks to social media and other online communities, as the qualities that attract people to domestic hobbies have remained constant for centuries. In previous posts, I addressed their therapeutic benefits and ability to create a sense of community among crafters. There is a third reason why […]

Continue Reading about Domestic Hobbies: The Connection between the Past and the Future Published on:
July 15, 2016