Boynton Beach, Florida (Palm Beach County, Florida): A history exhibit entitled Barbie®: The Golden Anniversary will be on display thru April 1, 2010.   The location for the display of the vintage Barbie® Dolls will be at the temporary home for the Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History at the Boynton Beach Mall at 801 N. Congress Avenue, Boynton Beach, Florida.  Hundreds of vintage Barbie® Dolls, friends, family members and accessories will be showcased in this is anthropological and history multi-media exhibit.  The exhibit is full of tidbits of historical information.  Prepare to spend time to enjoy seeing how these tidbits of information show how lifestyle, fashion and history are so much interrelated.

 

Especially for the Holiday season, a Barbie® Christmas tree was decorated and is displayed at the Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History as a part of a history exhibit titled Barbie®: The Golden Anniversary.

 

More than 50 Barbie® ornaments on loan from Julie Hartnett of Boca Raton have been hung on a 6.5 feet Christmas tree.  The faux Christmas tree was donated by Wal-Mart of Boynton Beach.

 

Through a partnership with Macy’s of Boynton Beach the Christmas tree decorating was designed and  coordinated by Michael Steele who is the Visual Manager for Macy’s.

 

In addition to the 6.5 feet Christmas tree, Barbie® collector Natalie Nelson has loaned her table top Barbie® pink Christmas tree decorated with her collection of Barbie® ornaments that are displayed also in the exhibit.

 

In conjunction with the Barbie ornament adorned Christmas trees various Holiday Barbie® Dolls are now on display too.

 

The Barbie® Christmas tree display at the Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History is a part of the Barbie® history exhibit and the Barbie Christmas tree is on display now through Wednesday, January 6, 2010. 

 

March 2009 marked the 50^th birthday of the world famous Barbie® Doll. For Barbie® exhibit items for the Barbie®: The Golden Anniversary, the general public was invited to participate in this anthropological and history exhibit organized by the Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History about the landmark doll by loaning their Barbie® Doll items.

   

The Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History has also developed a curriculum infusion partnership with the Miami International University of Art & Design in Miami.  Students at the college designed Barbie shoes of the future and also created sketch designs of clothes for Barbie in the future.  These shoes and sketches are on display in the exhibit.

   

Some of the sponsors of Barbie®: The Golden Anniversary include the Boynton Beach Mall, the Patricia Ann Ravo Fund, the Boris & Edith Rueger Fund, US AC Self Storage, Fedex Office-Delray Beach; Sears-Boynton Beach; Home Depot-Boynton Beach, Wolf Gordon and Master Coating Technologies.  The Barbie® mural and interior décor for the exhibition was designed by Carrie LaPorte Bollelle of Carrie Leigh Designs and AES Interiors.  The Barbie mural was painted by Jodi Lee of Lake Worth, FL.

 

Special thank you to Boynton Beach Vice Mayor Woodrow Hay for his contribution towards the renovations of the Museum’s donated 8,000 square feet facility at the Boynton Beach Mall. The Museum will be at this location for at least 3 years.

 

It was ten years ago that the Barbie® Doll served as the inspiration for the non-profit Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History (MLFH) when the Museum’s Executive Director, Lori J. Durante, conceived, developed, organized and curated the anthropological exhibition about the Barbie® Doll in year 1999 in celebration of the dolls 40^th anniversary and Woman’s History Month. The 1999 exhibit was displayed in Downtown Delray Beach was entitled 40 years of the Barbie® Doll: In celebration of Women’s History Month.  That exhibit had a record breaking attendance of more than 20,000 visitors from around the world and it became one of the most memorable exhibitions in all of Palm Beach County, Florida and still holds the record for the highest attended museum exhibit ever in the City of Delray Beach. 

 

Barbie Millicent Roberts was introduced to the market in year 1959 and was the toy creation of Ruth Handler who was the co-founder and co-owner of Mattel.  Through the years, the Barbie® Doll has represented various careers including being in the Navy and Army and being Presidential Candidate Barbie® of the United States of America.

 

The following are some of the other participants in the Barbie® Doll exhibit who have loaned and provided vintage dolls and items for display:

 

Barbara Beaudry of Miami, FL

Ellen Bohde of Boca Raton, FL

Rosemary Cove of Lantana, FL

Vanessa Carosella of Boca Raton, FL

Janet DeVries of Boynton Beach, FL

Florence Fuller Child Development of Boca Raton, FL

Nadine Hart of Delray Beach, FL

Julie Hartnett of Boca Raton, FL

Doris Hingston of Boca Raton, FL

Allison Kapner of Lake Worth, FL

Natalie Nelson of Boynton Beach, FL

Milla-Antoinette Ravo of Boca Raton, FL
Gale Smith of Boynton Beach, FL

Kathy Susko of Boca Raton, FL

  

The Museum hours are Tuesday thru Saturday, 10am until 6pm and Sunday 1pm until 6pm.  The admission fees are $5 per person for adults/senior citizens/children age 12 and over; $1 per person for children ages 11-2; and free for children under age 2.  For more information, call 561-243-2662 or e-mail: BarbieExhibit@MLFHMUSEUM.org.  The Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History is located at the Boynton Beach Mall at 801 N. Congress Avenue, Boynton Beach, FL.    

  

Since 1999, the Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History has hosted more than seventeen exhibitions including traveling exhibitions from the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C.  The exhibit topics have included the history of lunch boxes, magazine covers as well as displays about hats, handbags and gloves. In year 2004, the MLFH was designated as the Best New Museum by the Broward-Times Newspaper.

 

From 2003-2005, the Museum was located in a rent-free 8,000 square feet facility in the former Pineapple Grove Shops Plaza located in the 300 Block of Pineapple Grove Way in the Main Street District of Downtown Delray Beach, Florida. That space in the plaza was generously donated by the owners, A.M. Davis Mercantile.  The Museum had to move from that location because the plaza was bought by a new owner who demolished it in 2005 along with all buildings in that entire City block for redevelopment which has not happened yet.  

 

Although MLFH has been without a facility for a few years, MLFH has continued to offer and present various programs such as the regular monthly Narrated Bus Tours of Historic Delray Beach; the Children’s Mathematics Narrated Bus Tour of Historic Delray Beach; the annual Children & Parents Day Winter Wonderland; and the annual Swedish Enchantment event.  For the bus tours, the accolades have included Best Bets in Palm Beach County in 2006 & 2005 by the Gold Coast Edition of Guest Informant Magazine; and in 2006, the Museum's Narrated Bus Tours of Historic Delray Beach were selected as Unique Travel Gem by AAA Travel Home & Away Magazine of Mid-America.  In May 2008 and June 2006, the Museum's Narrated Bus Tours of Historic Delray Beach were selected as Best Tour of the Town by The Palm Beacher & Gold Coast Magazines.

 

In addition to year 2009 being the 50^th birthday of the Barbie® Doll and the 10^th anniversary of Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History, year 2009 also marks the 100^th anniversary of Palm Beach County, Florida.  Therefore, some of the Museum’s confirmed events and programs for year 2009 will include recognition of the 100^th birthday of Palm Beach County, Florida.

 

The Barbie® Call to the public was for any Barbie® Dolls from years 1959 to present along with Barbie® clothes, pets, cars, houses and Barbie friends such as Ken, Skipper and Midge.  This call was also for Barbie® Dolls representing different cultures, different countries and much more.  If a person would like for their Barbie® Dolls items to be considered for temporary display, they need to mail or e-mail their name, street mailing address, phone number and e-mail address to the Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History at P.O. Box 6127, Delray Beach, Florida  33482 or e-mail BarbieExhibit@MLFHMUSEUM.org.  People should also include a brief description about the items that they wish to loan, how long they have owned their Barbie® items, and when and how they acquired the Barbie® items.   

 

The following is a brief list of some of the vintage dolls and accessories that are confirmed to be displayed in the exhibit:

 

Original 1959 Barbie® Doll (first Barbie Doll)

Bubble Hairdo 1964 Barbie® Doll

1970s Malibu Barbie® Dolls and accessories

NASCAR Barbie®

Space Camp Barbie®

Miss America Barbie®

Audrey Hepburn Barbie®

Peruvian Barbie®

Australian Barbie®

Morocco Barbie®

Peruvian Barbie®

Arctic Barbie®

Native American Barbie®

Sign-language Barbie®

1970 Midge Doll

1970s Skipper Doll

1960s Ken Dolls

 

History of the Barbie® Doll:

The Barbie® doll was invented in 1959 by Ruth Handler (co-founder of Mattel), whose own daughter was called Barbara. Barbie® was introduced to the world at the American Toy Fair in New York City. The doll was intended to be a teenage fashion doll. There has been some controversy over Barbie®'s figure when it realized that if Barbie® was a real person her measurements would be an impossible 36-18-38. The Ken doll was named after Ruth's son. Barbie® first had bendable legs in 1965.

 

More facts about the Barbie® Doll:

• Barbie’s real name is Barbie Millicent Roberts
• Barbie is from Willows, Wisconsin.  She attended Willows High School
• Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, brought her vision of a three-dimensional doll to life with the introduction of Barbie in 1959
• Barbie® first appeared in the now-famous black-and-white striped swimsuit and signature ponytail
• Barbie® has four sisters: Skipper (1964), Stacie (1992), Kelly (1995) and Krissy (1995)  
• Barbie®’s first pet was a horse named Dancer
• The first Barbie® doll sold for $3.00 (1959)
• Barbie®’s signature color is Barbie pink:  PMS 219
• Barbie®’s first boyfriend, Ken, debuted two years after Barbie in 1961
• Ken was named after the son of Mattel founders Ruth and Elliot Handler
• Ken and Barbie® broke up on Valentine’s Day in 2004 after being together more than 43 years   
• The best-selling Barbie® doll ever was 1992 Totally Hair Barbie®, with hair from the top of her head to her toes
• Barbie® has been outfitted by more than 70 famous couturiers
• Barbie® has had more than 108 inspirational careers

 

Barbie® is a registered trademark of the Mattel Corporation.  Barbie®: The Golden Anniversary exhibit is being developed, organized and presented by the Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History.  It is not a Mattel program