Jerome L. Singer, the distinguished psychologist who explored the depths of daydreaming, and alongside his wife the eminent developmental psychologist Dorothy G. Singer (1927–2016), became a pioneer in the study of imaginative play, died on December 14, 2019. Jerome and Dorothy were charter members of the editorial advisory board of The Strong’s American Journal of Play. With his hundreds of publications over a half century of scholarship, Jerome Singer helped us better understand the mysteries of human consciousness, […]
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Business Hours… For Pets
In 2016, the animated film The Secret Life of Pets made us chuckle at the notion that our beloved animal companions lead very different lives than what we imagine after we leave for work or school. Most of us assume they simply lounge around snoozing or staring out the window, anxiously awaiting our return. However, with more people working from home right now than ever before, it has become apparent that our pets—just like most of us—have a distinct daily […]
Life in Plastic: It’s Not Just Barbie
Like many Americans, I have been home with my children 24/7 for nearly six weeks. The experience has become an independent study for my job as a curator responsible for toys and dolls. I see how my kids interact with their toys and dolls and reflect on what these playthings teach my children. Adding to the mix, my mom has also started to drop off boxes of my childhood playthings, including a bin of Barbie dolls.
Barbie has generated criticism since […]
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Cooking for Fun
When I left home for graduate school and my first apartment, I could barely boil water. But I rapidly recognized that I couldn’t afford to go out to eat very often and I didn’t want to subsist on products from the supermarket’s freezer case. My solution? Learn to cook! Living alone let me experiment and hone my kitchen skills without anyone else around to say, “I thought we were going to eat before 8 p.m.” or “Did you really mean […]
Ralph Baer—Toy Inventor
Ralph Baer is perhaps best known as the father of home video games. He patented the idea for playing a video game on a television and then successfully developed the first home video game system, the Magnavox Odyssey, that came out in 1972. And yet Baer’s work on video games was only one small part of a lifetime of inventing. He had worked for decades in the defense industry, ultimately heading a major engineering division of Sanders, a large military […]
Musical Chairs
Mary Valentine
The Strong Museum Trustee
I’ve had a love of music since I was a kid—singing, dancing, listening, playing while listening. Playing while listening? Absolutely. I’m talking about musical chairs. I first played this game at my August birthday party when I was about eight or nine years old. Since I was born in the summer, the parties were held in our backyard, with my dad cooking up hot dogs and hamburgers on a round grill from Sears, Roebuck & Co, […]
Star Wars Day: The Action Figures that Almost Weren’t
Not long ago—1977, to be exact—in our very own galaxy, moviegoers witnessed the birth of a legend. Since its inception, the Star Wars franchise has generated billions of dollars in film, television, and merchandise, and is one of the most iconic titles in entertainment history. But while its popularity is undisputed today, that was not always the case. In fact, it was quite the opposite, which led to what could have easily become one of the biggest faux pas in […]
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Digging for GEM icons in an Atari ST Floppy Disk
In 2018, The Strong embarked on a project to digitize floppy disks using a device called the Kryoflux to capture the data stored on 3.5- and 5.25-inch floppy disks. Reading a floppy disk in the 21st century was the first step necessary to preserve hundreds of floppy disks in The Strong’s archival collections. In some cases, the Kryoflux was a useful tool to capture old games and development materials but, with more than 1,500 floppy disk images in […]
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Creativity in the Time of Quarantine
While recent world events may be causing many of us to feel uncertain—or even stuck—as most businesses, restaurants, and entertainment venues remain closed indefinitely, the circumstances seem to be fueling something much bigger: a global tidal wave of creativity.
Our day to day lives can often be so busy that we unwittingly fall into a routine many of us rarely stray from. However, for millions of folks any sense of routine has been upended in recent weeks due to the global […]