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Mexico: A Toy Collection Could Change the Future of Mexico

Categories: Latin America, Mexico, Arts & Culture, History

A 65 year old man had a personal collection with more than a million old toys, mostly made in Mexico. Mexican Architect Robert Shimizu, along with his son, decided to open their house as a toy museum. Their subtitled video documentary A Mexican Toy Story [1] tells the story of how it came to be and how they believe that through toys, Mexico can recover its path.

The Mexico Antique Toy Museum [2] [es] has organized several events with the aim to bring together collectors and rekindle the interest for locally produced products such as toys. In May, they will be hosting a Toy Design and Construction workshop [3] [es], and the best toy to come from it will be permanently displayed in the museum.

The description in many of the videos of the Museum's YouTube Channel [4] summarizes their mission:

El Museo del Juguete Antiguo México pretende ser un museo honesto para todas las edades sin importar el nivel socioeconómico, sin pretensiones, brindando al visitante no sólo un sitio de aprendizaje y relaciones sino también de confort, en donde se beneficiará a la sociedad mexicna [sic], a través del fomento de la cultura popular, para lograr así un refuerzo en la identidad nacional y en los lazos entre mexicanos, una mayor comunicación de nuestro pasado, presente para así cambiar el futuro de nuestro país.

The Museum of Antique Toys Mexico aims to be an honest museum for all ages where socio-economic levels don't matter, an unpretentious space  that offers the visitor not only a place of learning and relations but also an area of comfort where the Mexican society will benefit through the promotion of popular culture, thus strengthening the national identity and the bonds between Mexicans, a greater communication of our past and present to change the future of our country.

An example of how the Museum promotes the popular culture experience, the next video shows a Lucha Libre exhibition [5] which took place in the Museum to celebrate their 3rd anniversary.