A toy collection that brings back memories

It’s also a cautionary tale about casual collecting. When Herb and Gloria Barker started cruising tag sales in the 1960s, says Fuerst, they were initially seeking original Disney production drawings. But the couple expanded their acquisitions to all manner of cartoon and comic book characters, and the more they collected, the wider their purview became.

“Mr. Barker didn’t have a lot of toys until he was in his 50s,’’ Fuerst says. “You could say he made up for lost time.’’ The collection filled the Barkers’ house for decades until Gloria suggested that they ought to share the wealth. (Or maybe she just got tired of dusting.)

The museum comprises three rooms jammed with displays. More than 1,000 character lunch boxes are hung from the ceilings, all in alphabetical order. (The first production character lunch box, by the way, was a Hopalong Cassidy model from 1950.) A 12-page brochure provides a basic floor plan of the display cases and their contents and marks highlights of each of the rooms.

From Felix the Cat figurines to Charlie McCarthy dummies to Tom Mix cap pistols to California Raisins claymation figures to plastic versions of Buzz Lightyear and the Incredible Hulk, hardly a pop culture phenomenon escaped the Barkers. A good place to start might be the Boomer Case, which Fuerst says she filled “with all the things I loved as a kid.’’ That includes Tinkertoys, Cootie, Mickey Mouse Club memorabilia, “It’s a Small World’’ figures, the Charlie Weaver animated bartender, and figures of Piels Real Draft pitchmen Bob and Ray.

“Visual memory is so strong,’’ says Fuerst, “that when you see an object, it brings back your childhood. If you haven’t played with it personally, your friends did.’’