Having just finished reading an article that stated Mattel’s stock is at an all-time low (despite Barbie), Cutest and I thought we needed to investigate further. What’s happened to the toys we once enjoyed?
Where better to find out than KC’s own Toy & Miniature Museum? The museum sits proudly on a rise in the UMKC campus, 53rd and Oak to be exact. It even has its own parking.
Neither Cutest or I had returned to the museum in the last 25 years. What a delightful surprise awaited us. Today the museum is many times larger and professionally displays their collection in a 21st century manner.
When entering the mansion, the miniature collection greets you on the entire first floor. It is mind-boggling what artisans have created on such a teeny tiny scale. A partial list includes tools, furniture, glassware, and cityscapes. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids could have been filmed here. (Those kids were supposedly ¾” tall.)
Exhibits go back a couple of centuries. Considering what tools the craftsmen had to use then, it is even more amazing that such fine, intricate works could be completed.
On the second floor, show cases of toys and dolls and amazing dollhouses await. As you stroll about, you often hear other attendees remark how they or someone in their family had this toy or that doll. Tops, Hopalong Cassidy pistols, Chatty Cathy and many more are spotlighted. Cutest didn’t find her Ginny doll, but I was walking her (not Ginny) rather quickly then.
We were there for a couple of hours to also enjoy a very creative art exhibit (still there) but saw much, much more. We also learned that Kansas City’s hidden treasures are the largest collection of miniatures in the world. The collection is so huge, some 96,000 other pieces await their turn to be shown.
When we got home and looked at our pictures, we realized that photographing VERY small items makes them look big. Keep in mind that all the pics (sans this one above) are of items maybe one half or up to thumb size. Scroll through these tinies by finding the < >s.
The museum is not just for kids. So think small: take a break, go, enjoy.
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