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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

In the early 1990s, CD-ROMs promised consumers a dramatic leap forward in the capabilities of computers to provide immersive experiences. For example, the puzzle adventure game Myst used the new technology to plunge players into a mysterious, hypnotic world of exploration that provided enchanting graphics and mesmerizing music; Roberta Williams used the discs’ larger storage capacity to feature full-motion video in her horror game, Phantasmagoria; Jordan Mechner took advantage of the media format to play with high-quality animation in The […]

Continue Reading about Living Books Donation Documents the Heyday of CD-ROM Published on:
March 25, 2016

Okay, I’ll confess that I haven’t actually seen the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. But in my personal comparison of the two iconic superheroes, Batman wins almost every time.
I should explain that I grew up in the 1960s and hadn’t really paid much attention to superheroes until 1966 rolled around. Superman, who needed him? From what I could see of the black and white Adventures of Superman television series that originally aired between 1952 and 1958 and […]

Continue Reading about Batman v Superman: Batman Wins Published on:
March 25, 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 I stood outside The Strong’s new permanent Pinball Playfields exhibit, I couldn’t help but see and overhear our guests’ reactions to the flashing lights and distinct pops and thumps of the pinball machines. “Pinball! Yes!” I heard someone cheer. Another guest who noticed I worked at the museum stopped to tell me, “You’ve made my husband very happy.” As I watched smiling children, young families, and adults play in the exhibit, I heard another person ask a companion, “They […]

Continue Reading about Pinball Matters Published on:
March 11, 2016

One of the most interesting stories of the history of play in North America is its economic “democratization.” Broadly speaking, over the course of the late 19th century and throughout the 20th, a rising standard of living allowed more North Americans to devote extra time to playing.
This trend from luxury to affordability paralleled similar developments—at the beginning of the last century, education began to reach more children as school reformers pursued a policy of “classes for the masses.” And after […]

Continue Reading about From Luxury to Affordability Published on:
March 11, 2016

Record low temperatures and un-melting piles of snow kept parents scrambling to entertain house-bound children in the winter of 2015. This winter hasn’t been quite as cold or snowy in Rochester but, just in case the snows return, I’m ready with some practical advice drawn from The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, a research repository devoted to the history of play. Its resources include books that document some of the ways families survived long winters more than […]

Continue Reading about Old Timey Cures for Cabin Fever: Feathers, Forfeits, and Fortune Telling Published on:
March 7, 2016

It is no question that candy and toys are among many children’s favorite things. So when the two are paired together, the result is bound to be a success. Coined “the candy with a playmate,” PEZ dispensers prove what a great combination candy and a toy can be.
In 1927, Eduard Haas III of Austria introduced what some argue to be first breath mint. He called his mints PEZ, an abbreviation of the German word pfefferminz, the peppermint flavoring he used […]

Continue Reading about PEZ—the Candy with a Playmate Published on:
February 22, 2016

Plunging temperatures likely make us all a bit more grateful for the comfort of a warm home, sheltering us from blustery winds and swirling snowflakes. We know that shelter is a necessity of life, but I recently began thinking about the significance of homes for playthings. Not so very long ago, a toy chest was considered the home for most toys, dolls, blocks, and countless other playthings. However, it seems that in today’s toy market where a toy “lives” is […]

Continue Reading about Thinking Outside of the Toy Chest: Where Playthings Live Published on:
February 11, 2016