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Toys, Games, & Play

A guide to resources related to toys, games, & the material culture of play.

Finding Articles, Journals, & Magazines

  • To search for articles and periodicals in WorldCat Discovery, simply apply the “Article, Chapter” and/or “Journal, Magazine” filters to your results. You can also pre-filter your search  by format using the Advanced Search. 
  • Tip: Discovery's Article search might not always return all of the articles we have access to, as it depends on how items are indexed and retrieved. If you are not finding a particular article using the “Article” format filter, it’s good practice to also use the “Journal” filter to access and search the journal directly via a dedicated interface. 

Periodicals, Journals, & Magazines

                                                                                         

  • Dolls Magazine
    • DOLLS magazine covers all facets of the collectible doll industry from high-end artist works to popular manufacturer pieces, fashion dolls, ball-jointed dolls and more.
  • Fashion Doll Quarterly 
    • A collectors magazine focused on fashion dolls that was published from 2003-2020. 
  • Game Studies
    • Game Studies is an open-access, cross-disciplinary journal dedicated to games research; with a primary focus on  aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games. 
  • American Journal of Play 
    • An interdisciplinary quarterly of Strong National Museum of Play, the journal aims to increase awareness and understanding of the role of play in learning and human development and the ways in which play illuminates cultural history.
  • Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media 
    • Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media is an international journal that publishes innovative theoretical and empirical research about games and culture within interactive media. The journal serves as a premiere outlet for ground-breaking work in the field of game studies.

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Databases & Online Resources 

  • ArchiveGrid

    • Searches over 7 million records describing archival and special collections materials from over 1,400 archives, libraries, museums, historical societies, and other repositories.

  • JSTOR

    • JSTOR is a digital library of academic content in many formats and disciplines. The collections include peer-reviewed scholarly journals, literary journals, academic monographs, research reports, and primary sources.

  • Killscreen

    • An online resource and magazine that publishes articles on gaming, focusing on its relation to other forms of art and entertainment.

  • NYPL Digital Collections

    • NYPL has collections of digitized trading cards, toy advertisements, paper dolls, and other toy/game related ephemera. 

  • Project MUSE

    • Project MUSE provides access to scholarly journals and ebooks in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

  • The Toy Association 

    • Provides access to the latest research and data on a range of topics impacting the global toy industry.

  • United Federation of Doll Clubs

    • The UFDC is a non-profit organization with the goal of being the foremost in research, education, conservation, collecting, and appreciation of dolls.

  • Reminder: BGC users can also access Bard College’s databases.