Mickey Mouse String Toy: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Plastic string toy of Mickey Mouse. Body parts are hard plastic and are connected with black string running through each piece. The three strings exit through each hand and the top of the head and connect to a white plastic bar to create a small, plastic marionette-like toy. Mickey's face is peach with a black nose, ears, eyebrows and black and white eyes and a red tongue. His body is black and red, with black arms and legs, white gloves and yellow shoes.

Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character debuted in Steamboat Willie in November 1928. He is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves. Mickey is one of the most recognizable cartoon characters in the world and is the mascot of The Walt Disney Corporation.

Materials, dates and provenance

• maker: Walt Disney Productions
• Object Name: toy
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: string (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 10 cm x 12 cm; 3 15/16 in x 4 23/32 in
• place made: China: Hong Kong
• Subject: Mickey Mouse
• Subject: Puppetry
• Subject: Toys
• Subject: Children
• ID Number: 1994.0161.01
• catalog number: 1994.0161.01
• accession number: 1994.0161
• Credit Line: Gift of Bennett Cohen
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.