The Strong

The Strong is an interactive, collections-based educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States, devoted to the study and exploration of play. It carries out this mission through six programmatic arms called "Play Partners":

Independent and not-for-profit, The Strong houses hundreds of thousands of historical materials related to play. These enable a multifaceted array of research, exhibition, and other interpretive activities that serve a diverse audience of adults, families, children, students, teachers, scholars, collectors, and others around the globe.

The Strong was founded by Margaret Woodbury Strong in 1968 as the "Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum of Fascination." On her death the next year, the museum inherited her estate and collection of dolls, toys, and other everyday objects. It moved to a new building in downtown Rochester in 1982. Market research in the 1990s led it to pivot toward more family-oriented programming, and in 2002 it acquired the National Toy Hall of Fame, which it renamed the Strong National Museum of Play on 2006. The institution rebranded itself The Strong in 2010, housing The National Museum of Play and four additional Play Partners.

The Strong collects and preserves artifacts, documents, and other materials that illuminate the meaning and importance of play. The hundreds of thousands of objects in The Strong’s collections comprise the world’s most comprehensive assemblage of toys, games, dolls, electronic games, and other items related to play, many of which are on display in approximately 100,000 square feet (26,200m2) of exhibition space.

Woodbury School at The Strong offers a preschool program for three- and four-year-old children and an early kindergarten program for four- and five-year-old children. Both programs are Reggio Emilia-inspired, and therefore responsive to the children's interests. This curriculum approach encourages teachers and students to work together to plan curriculum and create projects. Guided by teachers who facilitate their explorations, children delve deeply into topics that fascinate them and stimulate their learning.

The International Center for the History of Electronic Games collects, studies, and interprets video games, other electronic games, and related materials and the ways in which electronic games are changing how people play, learn, and connect with each other, including across boundaries of geography and culture.

The National Toy Hall of Fame recognizes toys that have demonstrated popularity over multiple generations and thereby gained national significance in the world of play and imagination. Each year it inducts honorees and showcases both new and historic versions of the classic objects of play.

On June 4, 2015, The Strong opened the doors to its World Video Game Hall of Fame. Its curator is Jon-Paul C. Dyson, who is The Strong's Vice President for Exhibit Research and Development and the Director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games.