Celebrate 50 Years of Barbie At the Suffern Library in Suffern NY
The Suffern Free Library will be celebrating 50 years of Barbie all month, exhibiting local resident and collector - Carolynn Whitford's - Barbie collection.
Some of the dolls in Carolynn's collection are exclusive Platinum label dolls - one of only 200 ever made. There are also fantasy and high fashion dolls by exclusive designers also to be displayed.
Barbie was the brainchild of Ruth Handler, wife of Eliot Handler co-owners of Mattel Toys. She first conceived of creating an adult fashion doll in the early 1950's after watching her daughter Barbara and her friends spending hours playing with adult paper dolls and reflecting their dreams of their future in imaginative play. Ruth tried to convince her husband Eliot to create a three dimensional version of the paper dolls in their factory, but couldn't; he didn't think there would be a market for it.
Undaunted Ruth took her idea to their factory designers. All the male designers thought it had no potential but Ruth persisted and together with some female designers worked up a model and wardrobe and presented it at the toy show in 1959. None of the Handlers customers expressed an interest in it and Eliot thought they had a failure on their hands, but as soon as the doll hit the shelves, the mothers and their children turned it into an instant success.
Fifty years later, Mothers and daughters are still buying Barbie's and Barbie is still one of America's favorite dolls.
If you're a Barbie fan or collector, no matter your age, don't miss this exhibit of one of America's oldest favorites.
The exhibit will be on display throughout the month of September from 10:00am to closing. But, if you'd like a first hand tour of the exhibit, Carolynn Whitford, otherwise known as "BarbieZania" will be on hand to give you a first hand tour of her collection and answer any questions on the evening of September 22nd beginning at 7 p.m.
The exhibit is free and appropriate for ages.
Suffern Free Library is located at 210 Lafayette Avenue in Suffern, NY.
Phone: 845-357-1237
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