(KANSAS CITY, Mo., AP) — The Toy and Miniature Museum in Kansas City plans to close in January and reopen in 2015 as The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, museum officials announced.
The museum said in a news release Tuesday that the museum’s collection of more than 72,000 items will be stored after Jan. 6 until the museum’s early 2015 reopening.
The Toy and Miniature Museum, which opened in 1982, has the world’s largest collection of miniatures, antique toys and marbles, some of which date to the early 1880s. It attracts more than 25,000 visitors a year.
Museum supporters have raised $8.5 million of a $9.2 million goal to support the renovation, which will include a new heating and cooling system for the Mediterranean-style mansion built in the early 1900s. The University of Missouri-Kansas City owns the building but the museum is operated by a nonprofit group.
The name change to the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures is an effort to raise the museum’s profile regionally and nationally, The Kansas City Star reported (http://bit.ly/1eoM5fC).
“We believe the collection of miniatures is second to none, and the toy collection is a complement to that,” said Vincent Gauthier, the museum board chairman. “What we are trying to do is share with people something that is in their backyard.”
The museum said in a news release Tuesday that the museum’s collection of more than 72,000 items will be stored after Jan. 6 until the museum’s early 2015 reopening.
The Toy and Miniature Museum, which opened in 1982, has the world’s largest collection of miniatures, antique toys and marbles, some of which date to the early 1880s. It attracts more than 25,000 visitors a year.
Museum supporters have raised $8.5 million of a $9.2 million goal to support the renovation, which will include a new heating and cooling system for the Mediterranean-style mansion built in the early 1900s. The University of Missouri-Kansas City owns the building but the museum is operated by a nonprofit group.
The name change to the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures is an effort to raise the museum’s profile regionally and nationally, The Kansas City Star reported (http://bit.ly/1eoM5fC).
“We believe the collection of miniatures is second to none, and the toy collection is a complement to that,” said Vincent Gauthier, the museum board chairman. “What we are trying to do is share with people something that is in their backyard.”
Story continues below advertisement
