National Museum of Play Online Collections

The National Museum of Play^® at The Strong is home to hundreds of thousands of historical objects having to do with play, including the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of toys, dolls, games, and other play-related artifacts. Thousands can be viewed in the museum’s online database, which draws on the museum’s catalog records. These artifacts inspire and support The Strong’s mission.

The collections of The Strong's National Museum of Play are complemented by the world-class electronic game collections that The Strong holds in its International Center for the History of Electronic Games, the iconic toys of its National Toy Hall of Fame, and the play-related materials of its Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, a multidisciplinary research repository devoted to the study of play.

For each object shown online there appears a documentary photograph and basic factual information including the maker, material, title, place of origin, and date. For many items, in-depth information may also be provided, such as historical context or specific significance. Learn more indicates that an object record includes further content beyond standard museum cataloging. Please note that many of the items shown online are not on public display.

Each month, the National Museum of Play adds artifacts to its collections and the online collections database expands to reflect those additions. To make exploring recent acquisitions easy, objects in online collections categories are organized so that the latest additions appear on the first results page.

Questions or suggestions about the content or functionality of the Online Collections should be directed to collections@thestrong.org.