Toy and Doll Museum gets interior, exterior updates with grant help

Facility gets interior, exterior updates with grant help

The Children's Toy and Doll Museum may not have opened for the season, but volunteers are still busy at the Gilman Avenue facility.

Through a matching $1,000 grant from Build Up Marietta, the museum's exterior was updated with a new sidewalk, hand railings and sign.

Museum Board President Donna Kern said the exterior project was the brainstorm of her husband and facilities manager, Don Kern.

So far, the museum has received a new roof, 32 new windows, a sidewalk, hand railings and sign painted by board vice president Diane Pfile.

"There are nine more windows to do," Don said. "By replacing the windows, we're saving on energy costs."

The final nine windows are wooden windows that were installed in the 1990s and replacements will cost approximately $500 each. Money is still being raised to finish that project.

Pfile said a lot of sunlight was coming through the windows, so shades were added. Unfortunately, that made the museum too dark, so new shades are in the works.

She said some of the projects were a long time coming, but needed to be done, such as the handrails.

"They were added for safety. I spent all winter thinking of ways to make things look better," Don said. The matching grant helped pay for the sidewalk, railing and sign, but he donated the steps for the back of the museum. Don said the steps were a little too steep, so he made them not as steep, and city code said they had to have handrails.

"The Plumbers and Pipefitters (Local Union 168) and their trainees worked around the weather on the railings," he noted. "They did the work when they had free time."

The sidewalk was replaced from the curb to the city sidewalk, and from the city sidewalk to the building.

The museum's season generally runs from May through the end of October, but volunteers start getting ready in January or February.

Work hasn't only gone on outside, but also on the inside of the museum. There are nine rooms of exhibits, with five new exhibits for people to look forward to when the museum reopens in the spring.

New exhibits will include Disney memorabilia, a large collection of Gone with the Wind items, vintage and antique trains and GI Joe.

Volunteers have also been busy organizing inventory and cleaning dolls and doll clothes, Pfile said.

The museum may be closed to the public, but its Facebook page is regularly updated with exhibits, fundraisers and the history of some items in the exhibit, such as a recent post about Raggedy Ann and Andy.

Pfile said newsletters were also sent out to members to keep them updated and curious about what's happening while the museum is closed.

"We want to keep in touch and make sure they don't lose interest," she noted.