Collection
Barbie and the History of American Childhood
In many ways, summer 2023 was the summer of "Barbie," driven by the "Barbie" movie's highly-anticipated release and its extensive bubblegum pink marketing campaign. This collection explores the longer history of Barbie and other dolls and how they reflected and shaped American society and culture, bringing questions of gender, race, class, and power into child's play.
Barbie was created by Ruth Handler in 1945, after Handler decided to "give her [daughter] a doll that was not a baby, but a woman she could aspire to." Since then, Barbie has been a surgeon, an Olympic skier, and run for president in every election since 1992. But Barbie's unrealistic body type has prompted criticism, causing the Mattel corporation to diversify its offerings.
American Girl Dolls and their accompanying books, clothing, and accessories are designed to teach girls about what it was like to grow up during different periods of history. Their stories carry the message, according to one scholar, that "girlhood is universal." But was it? And how have American Girl Dolls attempted to reconcile celebrations of girlhood with sharing accurate -- and thus, sometimes violent and traumatic -- histories?
Topsy-Turvy dolls are two dolls -- one Black, one white -- connected at the waist. These dolls were likely first made on plantations in the American South in the nineteenth century, though by the mid-twentieth century they were being mass-produced for play throughout the United States. Why were topsy-turvy dolls created in the first place? What structures did the dolls help children and their parents navigate - or subvert?
The toy business began "overtly gendered marketing" in the mid-twentieth century, when manufacturers realized that well-off families would buy distinct toy sets for girls and boys. Today, the same profit-seeking impulse that led to gendering toys is leading to a de-emphasis on gendered toys, as companies seek new markets.
In 1964, Hasbro sought to create a toy for boys that could compete with Mattel's Barbie. And so G.I. Joe was born, complete with moveable joints that made the military-themed doll readier for action than Barbie. G.I. Joe spurred a craze for action figure toys for boys and girls, notably "Star Wars"-themed action figures released alongside the movies in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, action figures include pop-culture based collectibles, which appeal to adults as well as children.