Curating the Story Museum: A Resource for EducatorsMain MenuIntroduction to Curating the Story MuseumBy Naomi Hamer and Ann Marie MurnaghanProject DescriptionProject DescriptionCurating the Story MuseumSummary Video of the ProjectUndergraduate and Graduate Research Assistants Research OutputsResearch Assistant CollaborationsUrban Children's BooksBy Quentin StuckeyMuseums during COVID-19: Opportunities for engagementResearched and written by Dana MitchellChildren's Museum and Story Sites in the Greater Toronto Area, Past and PresentBy Sabrina Pavelic, with Helena Wright and Elizabeth TherouxReviewing Dr. SeussBy Sabrina PavelicThe Royal Canadian Mounted Police Heritage CentreBy C. GunnExhibit reviews from our undergraduate collaboratorsReviews from Dr. Hamer's English 910: English Capstone SeminarResearch OutputsBook Chapter and Journal Articles produced over the course of the project.The hybrid exhibits of the story museum: The child as creative artist and the limits to hands-on participationBy Naomi Hamer (2019) Museum and Society, 17(3), 390-403.Exploring the Museum at Night: Young people’s Agency and Citizenship in Museum-Related Children’s Literature and ProgrammingBy Naomi Hamer and Ann Marie Murnaghan. In The Role of the Child as Citizen: Agency and Activism in Children’s Literature and Culture, edited by Giuliana Fenech. University of Mississippi Press.Global Children's MuseumsArt, Story and PlayAcknowledgementsSpecial thanks to all our CollaboratorsResources for ResearchCollection of Documents in this EbookAnn Marie Murnaghan and Naomi Hamer081b9a890206e558011a8c3bc15a99df3910cbdf
The Mad Hatter's Tea Party Birthday Centre
12024-02-24T11:10:38-05:00Ann Marie Murnaghan and Naomi Hamer081b9a890206e558011a8c3bc15a99df3910cbdf1274Toronto, Ontariogoogle_maps2024-03-07T10:27:13-05:0043.76931329377619, -79.46900564936081Ann Marie Murnaghan and Naomi Hamer081b9a890206e558011a8c3bc15a99df3910cbdf
The Mad Hatter was a birthday party centre that had multiple locations around Toronto from the 1980s until the 1990s. The consensus from past young participants—now adults—is that the mention of the centre evokes hazy and dreamlike memories. The place was effectively lawless, leaving kids to roam around a basement-like room with foam dividers, strobe lighting, whipped cream and food fights, shopping cart races, and more. Adults and parents were not allowed into the basement party area and children were left supervised by 16–17 year old teenagers who were about as lawless as the centre allowed. Kids from those days remember being given names with expletives in them. Their memories range from it being the best parties ever to the absolute thing of nightmares. Nothing quite encompasses the hazy fog and dreamy weirdness of the Alice in Wonderland stories into a physical location like the Mad Hatter does.
This is probably the wildest insight into children’s entertainment from the past The entertainment was outrageous like whipped cream fights, pillow fights with “smelly, urine-stained, raw foam pillows” (quote from the Grid article), shopping cart wars, food fights, and birthday cake disasters
12024-02-24T11:19:22-05:00Ann Marie Murnaghan and Naomi Hamer081b9a890206e558011a8c3bc15a99df3910cbdfChildren's Museum and Story Sites in the Greater Toronto Area, Past and PresentAnn Marie Murnaghan and Naomi Hamer5By Sabrina Pavelic, with Helena Wright and Elizabeth Therouxgoogle_maps2024-03-07T10:31:15-05:00Ann Marie Murnaghan and Naomi Hamer081b9a890206e558011a8c3bc15a99df3910cbdf