Studying play is about to get more intensive at the University of Rochester.
The university is partnering with the Strong National Museum of Play to expand access to a wide range of archives and resources for researchers and scholars to dig into.
Jon-Paul Dyson, senior vice president for exhibits and interpretive resources at the museum, said the formal partnership opens doors to further academic, cultural, and medical research on the phenomenon of play.
“I think the university brings a chance to really study in depth some of the issues around play and its importance, both for individuals, also for society, in a way that maybe we don't always have an opportunity as a museum,” Dyson said. “Our staff here doesn't have the time to really delve deeply into the subject in a purely scholarly, academic way which a researcher at the University of Rochester might have time to do.”
There’s been informal collaboration with the museum, Dyson said, but this opens up possibilities for new courses and degrees that explore the significance of play — whether cultural, historical, psychological, developmental or otherwise.
And while there’s the public-facing side to the museum, there’s also a massive collection of playthings and papers to be explored that is not open to the public.
“If you go into a large library and they have just walls of books on carousels and you kind of crank them? Imagine that but like a warehouse size, with rows and rows and rows of toys and dolls and games, and all archived with a way to find them.” Daley said. “The effort that it took to organize this and the size of it, it was really impressive.”
For instance, studying those objects and historical documents from a cultural perspective is one of many opportunities that the partnership creates, Daley said. That could potentially lead to advancements in various fields that play touches, particularly when it comes to understanding human cognition at all ages, and the cultural significance of play in society on an individual and broader level, he added.
“They have done such a great job of collecting, curating, documenting play materials, and I just really want to see that used and studied,” Daley said. “Being an academic institution, we have the ability to do that.”
For Dyson, he hopes this will make Rochester a global hub for the study and experience of play.
“Play is vital to what makes us human," he said. "We're our fullest selves when we play. It refreshes our brains. It's one scholars call our brain's favorite way of learning. It brings joy. It brings people together. Play is essential to happy, healthy, sustained living, both individually but also collectively for us as a community and as a society. And so, play is at the essence of what it means to be human."
