Nostalgic collections

Nostalgia has been transformed by the consumer market. With the emergence of ephemeral novelty goods–popular music, TV serials, kitsch, automobiles, and especially playthings–nostalgia has become less about identification with past communities, ideologies, or regimes than associated with fast-changing consumer goods, especially those encountered in childhood and youth. Reappropriating those goods later in life in nostalgic collecting has become a big business, producing narrow cohorts of consumers sharing common consumer memories. I explore this phenomenon through the history of collecting toys, dolls, and Disney collectibles in the USA.