Play has a museum here in downtown Rochester: The Strong National Museum of Play, part of The Strong. Established in 1969 and initially based on the personal collection of Rochester native Margaret Woodbury Strong, this institution opened to the public in 1982 after several years of planning, cataloguing, and exhibition development for the museum’s new building. For at least fifteen years after it opened, the museum set out to interpret the social and cultural history of average Americans between 1830 and 1940 under the direction of H.J. Swinney and William T. Alderson.
Mrs. Strong’s remarkable collections of dolls and toys, American and European decorative arts, prints, paintings, Japanese crafts, and advertising ephemera provided the firm foundation for that mission and were carefully supplemented with collections purchased and donated to broaden the story. The museum drew considerable local and national publicity and even substantial financial support from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Exhibitions and Public Programs division. Stand here and feel the sense of a private passion turned public resource, a place where objects and stories of everyday life were gathered and shared.
Margaret Woodbury Strong's own collection of dolls, decorative arts, prints, paintings, Japanese crafts and advertising ephemera still grows into every exhibit you find here.