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| The Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City |
Not many things take me by surprise, but my recent visit to
The Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City did just that.
When I decided to check out the museum, I pictured myself entering
a small building filled with a boring collection of old, dusty toys and a few
miniatures for viewing.
I could not have been more wrong. This facility is a world-class museum filled
with more fascinating items than I could ever begin to describe.
First of all, the massive collection of priceless toys and
miniatures is housed in the gorgeous 38-room Tureman Mansion, which was
designed by architect John McKechnie and completed in 1911 for prominent Kansas
City physician Dr. Herbert Tureman and his family.
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| Entering the Toy and Miniature Museum |
The home sits majestically back from the street atop a hill
on the western edge of the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) campus and
has its own interesting history.
Nell Donnelly, wealthy owner of the Donnelly Garment
Factory, and her husband were leasing the mansion in 1931 after Dr. Tureman
passed away.
On December 16 of that year, Donnelly and her chauffeur,
George Blair, were kidnapped at gunpoint from the driveway of the home and held
for ransom in Bonner Springs. To
everyone’s relief, both were rescued two days later with the help of James A.
Reed, a local politician and attorney, and John Lazia, a Kansas City mob boss.
In 1966, UMKC became the owner of the Tureman Mansion when
Marie Tureman passed away and left the home to the university.
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| A View of Tureman Mansion From The Street |
The Toy and Miniature Museum moved into the building in 1982
and has since expanded twice to its current size of 33,000 square feet.
The museum was created by Mary Harris Francis and Barbara
Marshall. Both women were avid collectors,
but Francis liked collecting antique dollhouses while Marshall enjoyed miniatures.
Eventually, their individual collections grew so large that
they were urged to open a museum. In
1979, they formed a not-for-profit foundation and the Toy and Miniature Museum
of Kansas City was born.
Francis and Marshall also had assistance from Jerry Smith,
who was a Kansas City Buick dealer before his retirement, and a passionate toy
collector himself. Many of his priceless
toys and commercial pieces are also displayed within the museum’s walls.
When you enter the building, you are greeted by a docent. This is nice because you get an idea of what
you will be seeing and learn details about some of the museum’s oldest, most
interesting, and most unusual pieces.
The toy collection, which spans the first and second floors
of the mansion, includes one-of-a-kind antique dollhouses, mechanical toys,
teddy bears, board games, child-sized kitchen and home appliances, furniture, foreign
toys, specialized collections and much more.
The largest dollhouse in the museum, known as the Coleman
House, stands nine feet tall and seven feet wide. It originally belonged to the prominent
Coleman family from Lebanon, Pennsylvania and appears to have had gas lighting
and running water at one time.
Georgiana is the oldest doll in the museum and dates back to
the 1750s. She is made of wood, has
glass eyes, and even sports a wig made from human hair.
As you walk from gallery to gallery, you slowly realize how
many items are actually in the museum’s inventory. There are collections of cars, trains,
planes, circus toys and patriotic items, which include George and Martha
Washington dolls along with a number of Uncle Sam collectibles.
There is a room devoted to numerous Noah’s Arks with
animals, a collection of toy soldiers, cowboys and Indians, jungle animals, tea
sets, fire memorabilia, paper dolls, banks, churches – including a lovely wood
church made by a German cabinet maker, a large grouping of Star Wars dolls and
figures, which was the most successful movie-related toy line ever, and the
list goes on.
Additionally, the museum houses one of the largest marble
collections in the world. An entire
space is devoted to marble art, marble games, marble jewelry, marble
contraptions, and drawers full of marbles of all sizes and designs for visitors
to examine.
And if you are a Barbie fan, the museum has a special Barbie
exhibit running through 2012. In this
gallery, you are able to view the very first Barbie and everything else Barbie
you can imagine, including a Barbie dictionary, records, jewelry, purses, puzzles,
and even Barbie dolls wearing gowns created by famous designers Vera Wang and
Bob Mackie.
I learned a lot about Barbie by walking through this
exhibit. For example, did you know that
Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, that her hometown is Willows,
Wisconsin, that she is the oldest of seven siblings, and that she has had more
than eighty careers since she was created in 1959?
In fact, Barbie has been such a sensation over the years
that the Mattel Toy Company has used more than 105 million yards of fabric
creating Barbie fashions, which makes them one of the largest apparel
manufacturers in the world.
After you finish looking at all the toys in the museum, it
is time to check out all the fascinating miniatures displayed on the first
floor.
There are miniature homes complete with everything that you
would find in a full-sized house. There
are tiny instruments, books, jewelry, cameras, clocks, needlepoint pieces,
paintings, animals and everything else you can imagine.
What I found most interesting about the miniature area of the
museum was the room lined with microscopes.
When you look into each of the microscopes, you are able to see miniature
pieces that you can barely distinguish with your naked eye - such as intricate designs created on the
head of a straight pin.
Also in the miniature section of the museum is a film
showing how artists create their tiny pieces of art and a small display that
shows you step by step how a miniature violin is created and pieced together.
Overall, there are so many items to look at in the Toy and
Miniature museum that it is truly hard to take it all in at one time.
You should know that if you leave before seeing everything,
the museum allows you to return the same day with your paid admission receipt
and reenter at no charge, which I actually recommend.
You can spend the morning enjoying the huge toy
collection. Then, take a break and head
to one of the nearby yummy Plaza restaurants for lunch.
After you have given your brain a break and made your
stomach happy, return to the museum in the afternoon ready to absorb the
magnificence of the miniature collection on display.
While in the museum, be sure to also check out the fireplaces
and beautiful woodwork in several of the rooms.
This gives you an idea of how opulent the museum was when it was a
private residence.
At the end of your day at the museum, if you are still
wanting more, there is a fun gift shop to look through which contains toys,
trinkets, jewelry, dolls and more for you to purchase.
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| A Giant Windup Bear on the Lawn of the Museum |
Note that the Toy and Miniature Museum does not allow
photos, a guide can be arranged for tour groups, it is not a good place to take
young kids, and kids under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
Ticket prices are $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and
full-time students, $5 for children 5-12, and free for children under 5, museum
members, and students, faculty and staff of UMKC.
The Toy and Miniature Museum is located
at 5235 Oak and is open Wednesday – Saturday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and on
Sundays from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. They are
closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
