Research Access

The Strong owns and cares for the world’s most comprehensive collection of toys, dolls, board games, video games, other electronic games, and other historical materials related to play. This unprecedented assemblage offers a unique interpretive and educational window into the critical role of play in human physical, social, and intellectual development and the ways in which play reflects cultural history.

The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play is the only library and archives devoted solely to collecting and preserving play-related materials. The 225,000-volume research library houses a full spectrum of primary and secondary sources, including scholarly works, professional journals, other periodicals, trade catalogs, children’s books, comic books, manuscripts, personal papers, business records, and more.

Online Access to Collections

Thousands of artifacts from The Strong’s collections are on view in museum exhibits, and tens of thousands of objects are opens in a new windowaccessible online. Also online are the opens in a new windowlibrary and opens in a new windowarchival catalogs of the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, which provides a window in The Strong’s vast collection of books and trade publications. Digital library and archival collections, such as digitized trade catalogs and oral history projects, are available online through the museum’s Preservica Universal Access site. Researchers and game enthusiasts alike may also want to view The Sid Sackson Portal, an NHPRC grant-funded project to digitize archival materials from game designer Sid Sackson.

On-Site Access to Collections

On-site access to the full museum collection is available to scholars, students, collectors, and other researchers by appointment. Appointments may be made via an online form, by phone at 585-410-6349, or by sending an email to opens in a new windowlibrary@museumofplay.orgcreate new email. For the optimal experience with on-site research, two weeks’ notice is required. Please provide a topic of research, indicate the materials desired, and explain any special needs. The Strong distinguishes between library materials, archival collections, and museum objects. Library materials include published materials such as books, journals, magazines, zines, trade catalogs, and marketing kits. Archival collections contain unpublished materials such as manuscripts, correspondence, design notes and drawings, focus group and other research data. Dolls, toys, games, puzzles, video games, pinball and arcade games, and other physical objects are considered museum objects.

Frequently Accessed Policies, Guides, and Forms:

• opens in a new windowUse of Collections Materials Agreementopens PDF file
• opens in a new windowDigital Game Files Access Policyopens PDF file
• opens in a new windowImage Rights and Reproductions Fee Scheduleopens PDF file
• opens in a new windowImage Use Agreementopens PDF file
• opens in a new windowHow to Use the Archives Catalogopens PDF file
• opens in a new windowFrequently Asked Questions about Researching at The Strongopens PDF file
• Researcher Request Formopens PDF file

Research Fellowships

To promote and advance play scholarship, The Strong invites academic professionals, independent scholars, museum scholars, and advanced graduate students at the Masters or PhD level to apply for research fellowships. Fellowships provide financial support for scholarly play research conducted on site at The Strong in Rochester, New York, for periods of study ranging from one to four weeks.