Above: Raggedy Ann & Andy, circa 1930s, National Museum of Toys and Miniatures. Photo: Mary Charlebois
Who would have thought that two childhood friends would end up both being collectors and, years later, open one of the finest national museums in the country? That is precisely what Mary Harris Francis and Barbara Hall Marshall did. The National Museums of Toys and Miniatures opened on October 20, 1982.
The museum is situated on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus in the 1906 residence of physician, Hurbert Turemon. It has been renovated twice. It has been expanded into a 33,000-square-foot museum and exhibition space. This National Museum now has an inventory of over 80,000 toys and 22,000 miniatures that are rotated throughout the year.
When arriving at the museum, we were impressed by how bright and spotless everything was. We were lucky to meet one of the curators and a docent at the desk, who explained the museum's two main sections. Toys are located on the second floor, and miniatures are on the ground floor. We opted to see the toys first.
As you walk up the spiral staircase, there is a ‘tube-of-toys’ rotating next to it with toys from every era back to the 19th century. Many from our childhoods. As we wandered through each room, we would see a toy that brought back a time of innocence and imagination.
Three rooms dedicated to dolls from around the world, including a Georgian wooden doll from 1750. There is a section dedicated to rarely seen African American dolls. At the time of this writing, they had a special showing of Indigenous American dolls and toys. For your Barbie collectors, NMTM has a memory-filled exhibit with Ken and G.I. Joe.
It was thrilling to see the antique wooden toys. Many items are from German artisans from Nuremberg. Nuremberg is considered the birthplace of modern toys, dating back to the 18th century.
Two rooms are filled with board games and educational toys, many of which we put together as children. Cooties, Mr. Potato Head, and more. The board game collection featured modern-day games we are all familiar with, such as Life and Monopoly. Do you remember Tiddlywinks? Two board games that were not around in our 70-plus years were the game of Uncle Sam’s US Mail and The World’s Geography. Great games of learning and entertainment. On your way to the next exhibits and floors, try your hand at the interactive games for children and adults.
The museum has a large space for special exhibitions. Exhibitions change throughout the year. Be sure to follow the link to see upcoming events.
During our visit, there was a showing of Nostalgia Awakens: Retro Kenner Star Wars Action Figure Toys. If you are a Star Wars fan, this is for you. This collection, by collector Jarod Roll, is the world’s largest collection of Kenner Star Wars Toys. The collection has every fine-scale toy they produced from 1978 up to 1985. Vehicles, posters, and the entire miniature collection of the stars.
If you’re like one-half of this writing team, the only miniatures you have probably seen are ships in a bottle. We were amazed to learn about the craftsmanship of these artists and the techniques they use to create these beautiful 1:12-scale pieces.
The furniture, cabinets, and musical instruments are all made the way a fine furniture maker would. Using specialized, precision tools to create dovetail, mortise, and tenon joints meticulously made with materials of balsa wood, cardboard, scrap metal, and acrylic paint.
There is a tremendous exhibit space for historic miniature 1:12-scale doll houses that occupies an entire 1st-floor wing. Many are filled with finely made furniture. Each room in some of the dollhouses has a fun feature that lets you light up individual rooms. Kitchens are complete with stoves, pots, pans, and dishes. A fire is glowing in the family room. Perfectly made beds in each bedroom. Their workmanship is fascinating.
Mary Harris Guinotte, daughter of one of Kansas City’s founding families, was born on March 16, 1927, in Kansas City, Missouri, to James Gibson and Mary Harris Guinotte. She attended Notre Dame de Sion Elementary School and Sunset Hill High School. After graduating from high school, Ms. Guinotte enrolled at the University of Missouri-Columbia and graduated in 1949. She began teaching at her grade school Alma mater, Notre Dame de Sion, soon after her college graduation. Although there seem to be no records on how long she taught after her marriage to John Byers Gibson in 1951, her passion remained with the education of children and the joys of childhood.
Mary loved childhood and the joys she had playing with her toys in her little one’s imagination. She didn’t start collecting in earnest until the age of 47. In 1974, Harris, as her family and friends called her, purchased an antique dollhouse, assuring her husband, “one is all I need.” This was merely the tip of the iceberg. She was hooked!
Friends and relatives began to donate toys to her. She collected toys that sparked the imagination and had been well-loved. Each with its own memories. Some of the toys were educational geography and history games. The Francis home had suddenly become a toy museum. Her husband and family were relieved when Mary joined her toy collection with childhood, and decades-long friend, Barbara Hall Marshal’s miniatures collection in 1981-82. Toy donations started coming in once the museum opened.
Barbara Hall Marshall was born in 1923 to J.C., founder of world-famous Hallmark Cards, and Elizabeth Hall. Her father recognized that, at a young age, Barbara possessed artistic taste and a natural instinct for what would catch the public’s eye. J.C. and she would sit many nights reviewing greeting cards.
Ms. Hall attended Sunset Hill School in 1941and graduated from Kansas University in 1945. She married Robert A. Marshall in 1949.
While in New York in the early 1950s, she passed by the shop of renowned miniature master Eric Pearson. Pearson is credited with being instrumental in the initial interest in miniature furniture in America. Ms. Hall-Marshall continued to collect and even commissioned works from artisans and young artists starting out. By the 1970s, she was considered a major collector amassing thousands of pieces. This formed the bedrock of a collection of over 72,000 pieces in the archives of the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures (NMTM).
The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures captured our imaginations and took us back to a time when, as children, we had our own quiet, make-believe world. A time when your teddy bear was your only friend. A time for sharing with friends, each of your own little collections of toys to build a town or play cowboys and Indians with your realistic figures.
We both left with smiles on our faces, discussing which toys and miniatures were our favorites in the renowned collections. Now we know what motivated Ms. Francis and Ms. Hall. A chance to remember what it was like to live within your imagination.
YouTube link to our fantasy video of toys dancing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUnXWBwbqfg
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Mary and Kevin are travel writers, travel photographers, and hotel scouts. They are based in Gozo, Malta. M&K travel internationally and domestically, looking for their next travel story.
Mary and Kevin are lifelong photographers and passionate travelers. Mary became a published travel writer in 2016, and Kevin began his career as a travel journalist in 2021. Today they work together, focusing on off-the-beaten-path, not-well-known, and in-the-shadow-of locations. They delve into art, music, food, and libations. In addition, they explore architecture, museums, parks, well-curated tours, history, agriculture, and the unexpected in micro-towns and big cities, domestically and internationally.