Year: 2022

Gallery 201B Side Exhibition

Curated by: Antonina, Cara, Deanna, and Lilyanna Sexualized Children’s Toys — L.O.L. Surprise! Dolls L.O.L. Surprise! Dolls are toys that are typically played with by young children. The dolls themselves look to be a regular toy that kids can enjoy. On October 7, 2020, these toys became a spotlight on social media and news channels…Continue Reading Gallery 201B Side Exhibition

Gallery 201A Side Exhibition

Changing perspectives on Child Sexuality in the U.S. During and Since the Twentieth Century This side exhibit was put together by Group A: Julia, Carrie, John, Khadyajah, and Lizzie. “Modernism Gone Mad”: Sex Education Comes to Chicago, 1913 Written by Jeffrey P. Moran “Certainly, it is important for the growing child to know his own…Continue Reading Gallery 201A Side Exhibition

Gallery 201 Main Exhibition

Sexuality Curated by: Melissa Ann Kyc, Megan Werner, Kelcey Paige Sokol, and Karen Friel The transition from child to teen to young adult is a period of a lot of change and growth. That growth happens physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Being in a transformative phase, adolescents begin to explore who they are as a person,…Continue Reading Gallery 201 Main Exhibition

Parental Purchases: How Parents Encourage Childhood Consumerism

Advertisers focus on children to sell more products, but parents are also part of the equation as it is often their money that is being spent. Buckingham gives a variety of reasons why parents buy things for their children. “…parents are often complicit in children’s consumption rather than being merely external regulators. Parents buy things for…Continue Reading Parental Purchases: How Parents Encourage Childhood Consumerism

Gallery 106B Side Exhibition: Television Commercial Advertisements Across the Decades

Television advertisements aimed at children consumers started in 1952, with the first ever toy commercial featuring Mr. Potato Head. The original Mr. Potato Head commercial shows a version of the toy that lacks the familiar plastic potato body, as at that time the stick-on accessories were intended to be put on an actual potato! Across…Continue Reading Gallery 106B Side Exhibition: Television Commercial Advertisements Across the Decades

Moral Panics and Consumption

Moral Panic: an instance of public anxiety or alarm in response to a problem regarded as threatening the moral standards of society. Oxford Dictionary According to Buckingham, “the recent wave of concern around childhood obesity” has reached a new wave of ‘moral panic’ (Buckingham, 2004, p. 105). I know that throughout my adult life, I’ve…Continue Reading Moral Panics and Consumption

Gallery 105E Side Exhibition

The Golden Age of American Childhood The 1950s “stands out as the golden age of American childhood. It serves as the yardstick against which all subsequent changes in childhood are measured.” (Mintz, 276) However, the “1950s was a period of outward optimism but inward anxiety and fear.” (Mintz, 293) A variety of circumstances caused this…Continue Reading Gallery 105E Side Exhibition

Gallery 105D Side Exhibition

Immigrant Children in the United States  “School classrooms frequently become sites of cultural conflict between immigrant pupils and native born teachers, who attached little value to cultural diversity and sought to transform immigrant children into “little citizens” by forbidding them to speak their native language” “Urban school systems sought to educate children in English as…Continue Reading Gallery 105D Side Exhibition

Gallery 105A Side Exhibition

The Impact of Negative Childhood Experiences (Bullying, Hate, Enviornmental Influences) Childhood Hate: Bullying seems to be a force to reckon with as it occurs on many platforms. This can be in school or even online. Anti bullying activists and others have worked to break this trend. As discussed in the main museum exhibit this week,…Continue Reading Gallery 105A Side Exhibition

Gallery 105 Main Exhibition

History of American Childhoods – Part 2  Curated by: Antonina, Cara, Deanna, and Lilyanna In the second half of Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood (2004), Mintz details how childhood has changed from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. The versions of childhood Mintz explores become increasingly recognizable to us as…Continue Reading Gallery 105 Main Exhibition