Museum of Childhood
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| Museum of Childhood | |
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| Name | Museum of Childhood |
| Type | Children's museum |
Museum of Childhood
The Museum of Childhood is a designation applied to institutions dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting objects associated with childhood, toys, playthings, and domestic life. Museums with this focus interpret material culture related to figures such as Charles Dickens, Beatrix Potter, Walt Disney, Lewis Carroll, and Enid Blyton while engaging audiences through exhibitions referencing Victorian era, Edwardian era, Industrial Revolution (18th–19th centuries), and 20th century. These museums often intersect with institutions like the Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, and Museum of London.
History
Origins of institutions dedicated to childhood trace to private collectors and philanthropists such as John Ruskin, Octavia Hill, Isabella Beeton, and Hans Christian Andersen who inspired public displays in venues associated with the British Museum, South Kensington Museum, Horniman Museum, and early municipal museums in London. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of purpose-built museums influenced by curators and reformers including Gustav Stresemann-era cultural patrons and figures linked to the Arts and Crafts Movement like William Morris and Philip Webb, who helped shape display aesthetics. Twentieth-century expansion involved collaborations with educational reformers and philanthropists such as Jane Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Joseph Rowntree, and institutions like the Yale University Art Gallery and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Postwar cultural policy from actors such as Clement Attlee and administrations influenced funding patterns via bodies like the National Trust, English Heritage, Heritage Lottery Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Collections and Exhibits
Collections typically include items associated with authors and creators such as A. A. Milne, Roald Dahl, J. M. Barrie, Margaret Wise Brown, Eric Carle, and R. L. Stine as well as material linked to manufacturers and brands like Mattel, Hasbro, LEGO Group, Fisher-Price, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Playmobil, and Kenner Products. Exhibits reference historical periods and events like the Great Exhibition, World War I, World War II, and social movements connected to childhood welfare promoted by organizations such as Save the Children, UNICEF, The Salvation Army, Barnardo's, and Red Cross. Displayed artifacts include dolls attributed to makers from Käthe Kruse, S. H. Griffiths & Sons, Steiff, and Sindy (doll), mechanical toys tied to inventors like George Automaton-era craftsmen, board games associated with Milton Bradley Company, Parker Brothers, Hasbro (formerly Hassenfeld Brothers), and manuscript material by Maurice Sendak and Katherine Paterson. Exhibits may juxtapose works by artists and illustrators such as Arthur Rackham, Beatrix Potter, Kate Greenaway, E. H. Shepard, Quentin Blake, John Tenniel, and Edmund Dulac.
Notable Museums and Locations
Notable institutions carrying collections or named spaces include establishments in cities and regions such as London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Glasgow, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Belfast, Cardiff, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, York, Canterbury, Newcastle upon Tyne, Plymouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Nottingham, Sheffield, Hull, Swansea, Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth (Scotland), Stirling, Coventry, Derby, Bradford, Blackpool, Huddersfield, Exeter, Wolverhampton, Milton Keynes, Reading, Worcester, Chesterfield, Cheltenham, Lichfield, Hereford, Carlisle, Bournemouth, Norwich, Salisbury, Lincoln, Ripon, St Albans, Winchester, Armagh, Dundee, St Andrews, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Wight and international counterparts in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Wellington, Dublin (Ohio), Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo, Reykjavík, Lisbon, Athens, Istanbul, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao, Malaga, Granada, and Lisbon (Portugal).
Education and Public Programs
Educational programming often draws on curricula and partnerships with universities and schools such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University College London, King's College London, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Manchester, University of Leeds, London School of Economics, Goldsmiths, University of London, Royal College of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, Columbia University, Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, McGill University, University of Melbourne, Australian National University, University of Sydney, Auckland University of Technology, National University of Singapore, Peking University, and University of Tokyo. Public programs reference festivals and events such as Children's Book Week, World Book Day, Museums at Night, Heritage Open Days, Summer School, BBC Proms, and collaborations with broadcasters like BBC, ITV, Channel 4, PBS, NHK, CBC, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), and NPR. Workshops, storytimes, school visits, and family days connect to authors and illustrators including Julia Donaldson, Michael Rosen, Philip Pullman, John Green, Neil Gaiman, Cornelia Funke, Meg Cabot, and J. K. Rowling.
Conservation and Curatorial Practices
Conservation departments in these museums follow standards set by professional bodies such as the International Council of Museums, ICOM, UK Museums Association, Collections Trust, American Alliance of Museums, Canadian Conservation Institute, National Museum Directors' Council, Conservation Unit (Historic Scotland), Historic England, ICOMOS, and ICOM-CC. Curators collaborate with specialists in textile conservation linked to institutions like the Victoria and Albert Museum Conservation Department, paper conservators associated with the British Library, and object conservators tied to the Smithsonian Conservation Institute. Practices involve provenance research referencing archival resources such as the National Archives (United Kingdom), National Archives and Records Administration, Bodleian Library, British Library, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Library of Congress, and digitization projects in partnership with tech organizations like Google Arts & Culture, Europeana, Digital Public Library of America, and Wikimedia Foundation.
Reception and Cultural Impact
Museums focused on childhood influence scholarship by scholars and critics from fields connected to figures like Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, Maria Montessori, Friedrich Froebel, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. They appear in media coverage by outlets such as The Guardian, The Times (London), The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Daily Mail, BBC News, Channel 4 News, Sky News, The Economist, and New Statesman. Cultural responses reference exhibitions and retrospectives connected to authors, illustrators, and designers such as Beatrix Potter, E. H. Shepard, Quentin Blake, Maurice Sendak, Mary Blair, Walt Disney Studios, Jim Henson, Stan Lee, Hergé, Osamu Tezuka, Hayao Miyazaki, Akira Kurosawa, Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro.
Category:Museums