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Kansas City museum features toys from Chistmases past

Posted at 9:00 AM, Nov 25, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-25 10:00:02-05

A stroll through the Museum of Toys and Miniatures is a walk down memory lane.

"All of the toys that we play with have a basis in toys of the past," said curator, Laura Taylor. 

From Mr. Potato Head and Mousetrap to Barbie and yes even the little Orphan Annie decoder - each one of the 20,000 toys on display triggers a memory for visitors.

 

More than 20,000 toys line the shelves of the museum.

 

"I love to see people make connections with toys they have half forgotten," said Taylor. "It's sort of like they are coming face to face with their own childhood. They are telling their kids or grandkids and suddenly those adults are children themselves."

The museum features innumerable games, dolls, and toys that many of us likely unwrapped Christmas morning.

 

Will the toys under your tree this year find themselves in a museum one day?

 

"We wanted to help our visitors connect to some of the older toys. All of the toys that come out today do have a historical basis in toys of the past," she said.

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But what is it that makes a regular plaything stand the test of time so that it finds itself not thrown away, but behind the glass of a museum?

 

Many of the toys are more than 100 years old. 
 

"So many of our toys in the collection do have some connection to the broader culture - things that were going on at that time," said Taylor. "Our toys really do reflect what's going on, our thoughts, our feelings, about the world and the children work out the current state of the world."

So who knows - the toys under your tree this year may end up as artifacts in a museum one day.

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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.

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