The University Museum serves Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the greater Southern Illinois community and beyond as a steward of the past and a gateway to the future. We collect, preserve, research, display and educate using a diverse and engaging range of artifacts and objects and educational methods. The Museum illuminates the local and world connections behind the arts, humanities, and sciences. As a teaching museum, we offer hands-on opportunities in progressive museum practices and provide leadership to museums across the region.Summer 2008 Exhibits
Find your inner child or bring a child to see Alicia Guebert's Exhibit, "Timeless Toys: Toys from the National Toy Hall of Fame," on exhibit from June 10 – August 1.
The National Toy Hall of Fame opened in 1998 as part of A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Oregon. In 2002, it moved to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. The original inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame included eighteen toys from the Barbie Doll to Crayola Crayons, from the Erector Set to the Hula Hoop, from the Teddy Bear to the Etch-A-Sketch.
Since its inception in 1998, the National Toy Hall of Fame has recognized some thirty-nine toys through 2007. Visitors to the exhibit will have an opportunity to nominate their candidates for the toy hall of fame.