Strong National Museum of Play Online Collections

URL: http://www.museumofplay.org/collections/online/

Organization: The Strong National Museum of Play is located in Rochester, NY. In addition to housing the National Center for the History of Electronic Games and publishing the interdisciplinary and peer-reviewed American Journal of Play, the museum hosts one of the most fun digital collections you are likely to come across. And if that isn't enough pure, unadulterated nostalgic fun for you, the museum's National Toy Hall of Fame entire collection is also online.

Description: For a change, sufficient adjectives fail me. This collection is a 9,668 digital object trip down memory lane. The web site describes it like this: "Each of the objects featured in Online Collections includes a documentary photograph and factual information that can range from basic to extensive, including the maker, material, title, place of origin, and date. For a growing proportion of objects, you’ll also find additional information about the object’s historical context or specific significance". I say: it's awesome.

Audience: My first inclination is to say this digital project will delight anyone old enough to know how to use a computer. However, as it is under the auspices of a national museum, the contents are almost 100% all-American, so it's possible that this collection might not have global appeal. Also, while the Electronic Games gallery does feature the latest console games, previous eras are strongly represented and divided into 5-year time frames. A large part of the items in the overall collection are from times just long enough ago that the people in the class who are writing this blog will remember them fondly. Today's youngsters will recognize Elmo (wow - did you know about this?), but will probably be puzzled by a blast from the past like The Sunshine Fun Family (insert wistful sigh here). There are also plenty of very old toys, and vintage photographs, too.

Project Background: Once upon a time, someone had, like, the coolest idea EVER! Well, actually, Margaret Woodbury Strong founded the museum in 1968. In 2002, the museum acquired the National Toy Hall of Fame and has steadily evolved into a major center for the study of fun. (Can I interest you in reading the abstract for "A Digital Game Preservation White Paper"?) Although I can't find it stated explicitly, I strongly suspect that the museum's on-site 100,000 volume research library and archives was involved in the online collection that draws on the museum's catalog records. For the record, one disappointing thing is that this library does not have a bigger presence on any of the museum's web pages.

Features: The National Toy Hall of Fame page has a continuous scroll of all 44 inducted toys. If you hover over the scroll, it slows down, and clicking on one of the images brings up a brief history of the toy (or object)* and additional, non-clickable images. This page also has links to a list of the 44 toys, a FAQ page, a nomination form, and a virtual tour of the National Toy Hall of Fame gallery. (It will probably make you want to go to the museum, so click on those links carefully.)

The Online Collections main search interface could not be simpler. Each of the 5 main categories is shown in a primary-colored box ("Toys", "Dolls", "Games", "Electronic Games", and "More Play Stuff"). These 5 main categories are divided into sub-sets that make perfect sense. A breadcrumb trail means you won't get lost no matter how far you wander into the collection. The search box stays in the upper right-hand corner of whatever page you are on, but it is a little picky. For example, if you mis-remember "Candy Land" as being one word, you will be disappointed.

I'm not sure how the images in each sub-division of the main categories is arranged (and it really doesn't matter in this case, because discovery is half the fun here). Thumbnail images enlarge a little bit when you mouse over them and the name of the toy appears. Clicking on an image brings up the item record which contains information about the toy's manufacturer, material, origin, database object ID number, and date the toy was made. There is also a larger image of the toy that you can magnify to see in greater (and sometimes gently worn) detail. Some toys have additional information about them. But, of course, a picture can be worth a thousand words, right?

Another cool thing I noticed while clicking around (and around, and around) the site is that every time you click on, or refresh, one of the 5 main category pages, the images that appear over the sub-division labels change. This means that you see a lot of new toys automatically. The fun is basically exponential! Do yourself a favor and go explore this digital collection right now. I guarantee that you will have fun. And, you're welcome. :-) (But special thanks goes to the genius otherwise known as Jon Stewart who featured this amazing museum on his show.)

(*If you click on no other link in this post, please click on this one. It's too fabulous for words.)