Quilts -- Korea; Quiltmakers -- Korea; Folklore -- Korea
The village on the top of this sleeping child's quilt is the land of Dokabi, Korean trolls. Whimsical and mischievous, Dokabi can be identified by the horns on the tops of their heads. The village is complete with a centralized water well, a train...
Airplanes; Airplanes -- Models; Toys; Paper toys; 1940s; World War 1939-1945
General Mills cereals made these toy model airplane kits complete with instructions in 1944. When tin toys were so popular, why would the toy be paper? During World War II (1941-45 for the United States), kids as well as adults had to "make...
Leaves -- Collection and preservation; Leaves; 1980s; Flowers; Flowers - collection and preservation
Can you guess why this leaf pressing kit is called “Flora”? In Roman mythology, Flora was the goddess of flowers. Since then, some people referred to all flowers as flora and all animals as fauna. The makers of this 1980s kit followed that...
Molded body-curved plastic? Why shouldn't a chair "fit" the person sitting in it? Furniture design was changed permanently in the 1940s when architect Charles Eames (1907-1978) and his wife, painter Ray Eames, began exploring furniture in...
This riding toy is a miniature version of the real Oscar Mayer Weinermobile -- an oversized 27-foot long working vehicle that resembles a hot dog on a bun. The first Weinermobile was created in 1936 as a promotional tool for Oscar Mayer's...
Flags; Flags--Indiana; Astronauts -- Indiana; Columbia (Spacecraft); Space shuttles; Allen, Joe
This Indiana state flag rode into space with Hoosier astronaut Joe Allen during his November 1982 mission on the Columbia shuttle. Why do you think states have flags? Do you know the history of the Indiana state flag? To celebrate the 100th...
Yoruba (African people); Yoruba (African people) -- Social life and customs; Stools; Furniture; Beadwork
The Kingdom of the Yoruba peoples in West Africa was once very vast. The king, or oba, was highly revered and appeared in highly decorative attire during public occasions. He always wore an elaborately beaded crown. At the turn of the century, when...
Cameras; Photography; Polaroid Land Camera; 1950s; Land, Edwin Herbert, 1909-
Before digital cameras, Edwin Land invented a way see the picture right after snapping the picture. His daughter inspired him by asking why she couldn’t see the picture right away. He created a way to develop film inside the camera in the late...
