ARIZONA DOLL AND TOY MUSEUM (Map)5847 W MYRTLE AVE
GLENDALE
AZ 85301
(Uncategorized or General Museums)
HTTP://HERITAGESQUAREPHX.ORG/The Arizona Doll & Toy Museum is dedicated to showcasing the history of dolls and toys with an extensive collection spanning decades and origins across the globe. Founded in 2009, this charming museum provides a glimpse into childhood playthings from the 19th century to today.
Stepping inside, visitors are transported into rooms filled floor to ceiling with dolls, toys, games, miniatures, and other items all carefully restored and preserved. Permanent rotating exhibits are arranged thematically to take guests on a journey through the evolution of dolls and toys starting in the 1800s.
Early displays highlight delicate, intricately detailed porcelain dolls from France and Germany dressed in elaborate hand-sewn clothing. This transitions into turn-of-the-century cloth dolls and toys from Europe and America, some with mechanisms that make eyes open and close or voices speak.
The next exhibits feature dolls from the 1920s-1950s made of emerging materials like composition, vinyl, and plastic along with classic toys like Slinkys, PEZ dispensers, and Radio Flyer wagons that many adults fondly remember from their own childhoods. Every item has been meticulously cleaned and repaired to be in pristine condition.
Other galleries showcase distinct categories like Barbie dolls, Star Wars figures, G.I. Joes, model trains, Marx playsets, PEZ dispensers and more. An entire display case is devoted just to Cabbage Patch Kids spanning decades. Interactive elements throughout allow visitors to have fun pushing buttons, pulling levers, and handling certain toys.
The Arizona Doll & Toy Museum also offers specialty exhibits that change twice a year such as holiday figurines, movie memorabilia, and unique regional collections. Along with informational plaques on origins and manufacturing, there are historical photos depicting children enjoying these same toys through the ages. The museum ultimately provides a heart-warming trip down memory lane.
Through the thousands of dolls and toys on display, visitors glean a deeper understanding of craftsmanship methods, cultural influences, generational nostalgia and interests, and how childhood has changed over the past 150 years. For both children and adults it makes a perfect interactive history lesson as well as a chance to reunite with beloved playthings of the past.