Barbie Comes to History Colorado With Special Mini-Display

Kimberly Kronwell loves Barbies. So when the highly anticipated Greta Gerwig film Barbie finally hit theaters on July 20, making $162 million its opening weekend, Kronwell, the exhibits and loan registrar at History Colorado, decided to collect a sampling of the museum's various Barbie artifacts and put them on display. Not only is the timing perfect, but the doll holds a connection to the state through its creator, Ruth Handler, who was born in Denver.

"I was obsessed. I loved Barbie," Kronwell says. "I remember I begged and begged and begged my mom for a Barbie. And apparently, my mom had to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with my dad about, like, is it okay for me as a five-year-old to have a Barbie that has body issues? Even in the ’90s, my mom was worried about the body-issue stuff.

"And finally, my mom just asked me, 'Why do you want Barbie?' And I was like, 'Um, for the clothes! Hello?!'"
Her mom caved, and ended up making Kronwell and her Barbie matching outfits. Like most people who love dolls, Kronwell adores what she calls "wee things" — such as the camping gear one of her Barbies came with, including tiny tongs, plates and cups. And, of course, there were the little shoes...shoes that would go missing time and again.

Understandably, then, it took some time for Kronwell to complete pairs of shoes for the History Colorado display, and most of the pairs belong to Ken. The dolls and other items were donated to the state's history museum over the years; the display includes a limited-edition University of Colorado Boulder cheerleader Barbie, still in its box, while the others carry the worn looks of many years of handling by loving owners. There's a brunette version of the 1959 debut doll, Teenage Fashion Barbie, with her black-and-white-striped one-piece (she has a single shoe); as well as a Christie, a Black doll introduced to the Barbie-verse in 1968 (there wouldn't be a Black Barbie until 1980); and an original-style Skipper, Barbie's superfluous little sister, who was born as an eight-year-old in 1964.

"You can see the marks where some of them were chewed by a dog or cat or something," Kronwell notes.
The display also shows a paper-doll Ken, with his many corresponding paper outfits; booklets for the characters and other merchandise, including cups, beach toys and a cookbook. As Barbie's résumé expanded — she was a surgeon, a fashion designer, an astronaut, a rapper, a paleontologist, a pilot and a presidential candidate, among other things — so did Mattel's marketing, catering to children's Barbie fantasies with countless accessories and backstories and new characters, such as Midge, Barbie's red-haired friend who became the first pregnant doll, thanks to Ken's "friend" Allan.

"When you're trying to imagine yourself as an adult, Barbie offered so many options, and she did it so stylishly!" Kronwell enthuses. "Mattel stayed on the beat of what consumers wanted."

Kronwell parted with her Barbies when she turned eighteen, in a moment straight from Toy Story 3, handing them off to a young girl who wouldn't be able to afford the bounty of toys otherwise. "I'm pretty sure she cried, she was so happy," she recalls.

The display was just a small labor of love, but it's filled Kronwell with memories and nostalgia. Her plans for this weekend? She's going to see Barbie with her mom.

See Barbie and her friends in the fourth-floor members' lounge of History Colorado, 1200 Broadway, where they're on view through mid-November. Entry to the museum is free on Colorado Day, August 1; get details here.