In the fall of 1950, Charles Schultz’s first Peanuts comic strip ran in the daily…
Category: Posts by Michelle Parnett-Dwyer
With thanks to a generous museum donor, Robin H. Wyatt, I was able to join…
Once adult playthings, dollhouses originally showcased finely crafted furnishings made of exotic materials and served…
I experience many emotions when my young kids ask to make slime. I usually greet…
My Little Pony invites children in the age-old play of hair grooming, brushing, and braiding.…
Were you one of the kids who was told that babies are found in the…
Born in 1914, Dare Wright spent her early childhood with her mother, famed portrait artist…
In 1900, Binney & Smith ventured into the school supply business. The company created handy…
The Strong recently acquired a few anthropomorphized fashion dolls. A dog with a human-like body…
In 1976, scholar Barbara Bader defined a picture book as “text, illustrations, total design; an…
A recent addition to The Strong museum’s collection got me thinking about how gender intersects…
Following a visit to historic Williamsburg, Virginia, and a Christmas shopping trip for her nieces,…
Dressed in her inaugural gown of red, blue, and silver, Barbie made her political debut…
The Japanese culture of kawaii—loosely meaning cute—emerged in the 1970s when teenage girls with extra…
Born in 1895, Bertha (Beatrice) Alexander Behrman grew up living above her stepfather’s doll hospital…
Ride-on toys, or kiddie cars, first appeared on the paved sidewalks and driveways of America…
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1931, Charles Harrison spent his childhood playing with model airplanes…
It all began following the 1965 Watts Riots in Los Angeles, California. Louis S. Smith,…