The Caplan Collection
The Caplan Collection
The Caplan Collection of Folk, Fantasy and Play was gifted to the museum in 1985 by Frank and Theresa Caplan, co-founders of the Creative Playthings toy company and experts in childhood development. The collection holds nearly 32,000 objects representative of toys, dolls, games, and folk art from over 120 different countries around the world.
Highlights of the collection include:
- Folk art by internationally renowned artists—the Linares Family (Mexico), the Aguilar Family (Mexico), Sammy Cordova (New Mexico, USA), Delbert Buck (Navajo peoples, New Mexico, USA), Dorothy Trujillo (Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico, USA), Käthe Kruse (Germany), Francis Bringloe (USA)
- Figural coffins in the shape of a mother hen with chicks and a tennis shoe created by the famous coffin-making workshops of Kane Kwei and Paa Joe of the Ga peoples of Teshi-Accra, Ghana, West Africa
- Three dimensional dokabi (troll) Korean dream quilt created by Jayoung Choi Cho (1997, Korean-American, USA)
- Raven transformation mask created by Oscar Matilpi (1996, Kwakiutl peoples, British Columbia, Northwest Coast region, North America)
- Wayang kulit (shadow puppets) and wayang golek (rod puppets) from Indonesia
- Toys and folk art made from recycled materials
The Caplan Collection on Wikipedia
On Saturday, August 20, 2011, The Children's Museum will hold an Edit-a-Thon with local Wikipedia editors to create and improve articles related to the Caplan Collection on Wikipedia, an online Encyclopedia.
The following resources have been digitized in order to help online editors update the related articles.
Articles
1984 Museum Annual Report
1985 Museum Annual Report
1986 Museum Annual Report
Caplan Aerogram Mayflower Newsletter
Columbia University Alumni Newsletter
June 1986 Tom Tom Newsletter
November 1986 Tom Tom Newsletter
December 1986 Tom Tom Newsletter
Frank Caplan's Obituary from the Indianapolis Star
Frank Caplan's Obituary from the New York Times
Making Tracks Newsletter Passport to the World Caplan article
Newseum Passport to the World Caplan article
Passport to the World Volunteer Flyer
Passport to the World Volunteer Mailer
Passport to the World in The Children's Museum Brochure
Images & Other Resources
Dogon Dancer Sculptures (The Children's Museum of Indianapolis cc-by-sa)
Folk Fantasy Play Introduction (PDF)
Frank & Theresa Caplan (The Children's Museum of Indianapolis cc-by-sa)
Theresa Caplan (The Children's Museum of Indianapolis cc-by-sa)
Miniature Storefront, Closed (The Children's Museum of Indianapolis cc-by-sa)
Miniature Storefront, Open (The Children's Museum of Indianapolis cc-by-sa)
Take Me There Egypt Caplan Artifact Case (PDF)
Take Me There Egypt Caplan Case (The Children's Museum of Indianapolis cc-by-sa)
Woven Plate (The Children's Museum of Indianapolis cc-by-sa)
