Portland Toy Museum

Good Golly! It has been a long long long time....long...time. I can see my last post is like around Halloween 2010. I need to spend more time with my little blog, it's like that muscle you never use...shriveled and weak (you decide which one that is on you...ahem). Nobody cares about what I've been doing, and why, and why it has prevented me from writing on my blog, nor do they really care about anything other than the stuff they like...cool stuff. My life does not qualify, but since I am a curator of all things neat-o, I can show them the things they DO care about and want to see. I really can...

Which leads me to my next project, just a small little thing I like to call....THE PORTLAND TOY MUSEUM. That should have sounded loud in your head. I'll cut to the chase, I'm going to set about creating a non-profit museum which showcases Vintage Playthings, Popular Culture, & Retro Entertainment. I'm talking a world class museum, not a room with some stuffed toys on a shelf and modern action figures tacked to a wall.

With a small amount of searching, you can see that most Toy Museums in this country really seem to be lacking. They are either out of touch with what people really want to see, or they use the aforementioned "shelf and tack" method, and really just come off cheesy. The cheesy part is obvious, but what do I mean by out of touch? I'm talking Grandma's old corn stuffed dolls, and Grandpa's miniature cast iron hay thresher collection. Don't get me wrong, those items are very cool, and fitting in a museum of antique toys, but let just be honest...they don't speak to the masses. I'd much rather have a place full of items where kids are dragging their parents to get in, rather than one where the parents are dragging them. Actually, I take that back...I want all of them running to get in the front door. I don't know that corn stuffed dolls are a real thing...but you get the idea.

I say world class because some of the best toy museums are overseas, England, Japan, and really all over Europe and Asia. They seem to have a better understanding of mixing modern with old, in settings and displays that seem crowded to the eye but are fully in control. They appreciate and understand the importance of  the characters they have grown up with, and the iconic things that give them national identity. We deserve that here, we deserve it in Portland, and it can happen.

I'm just the guy getting the ball rolling, but need help. I have been amassing a collection for the very purpose of making a museum. I have been networking with others in the collectible world for over 2 decades, and have the main thing that it takes to make it happen...the will. I have not limited myself to a single type of toy, but have gathered items from across the board, of both genders, and from a span of many production years. It comes down to one simple concept, I want everyone to enjoy what I enjoy. A collection of items in storage boxes, or even displayed in the confines of your home is just the makings of a tomb. I don't want that for myself. I've seen the reaction on people's faces when they see a great piece, the memories, the happiness it brings. I want my things to bring that joy to everyone, and hope to find others that want the same thing.

This is the first I've written about the subject, one I've been literally planning for 15 years. I figured it was time, as I'm young enough to get it done, and old enough to have gathered all I need to start. I just can't do it alone, and need others to jump on board. This will be a non-profit, fully self sufficient, fully secure, and public museum. Do I know all the details yet? Nope, but this blog posting is the start. I am also going to print up a brochure, a sort of informative recruitment thing. I'm going to launch a KickStarter funding program, and do the most important thing, talk to the right people.

Portland Toy Museum, it already exists, it just hasn't been built yet.