Rufus: The Bear with Diabetes: Museum Object and Cultural History
Rufus: The Bear with Diabetes: date made: ca 1999. maker: Russ Berrie and Company, Inc.. Object Name: toy, teddy bear.
The object in the museum catalogue
Stuffed synthetic brown fur bear with colored felt patches sewn to knees, upper arms, abdomen, and bottom. Patches indicate areas of the body used for insulin injection. Red felt hearts are sewn to the paws to indicate fingertips where blood is drawn for monitoring glucose levels. The bear wears a white knit fabric smock with: "Juvenile Diabetes Foundation / Walk to Cure Diabetes" printed on the front and a metal "Medic Alert" bracelet at wrist: "Diabetes / Join Medic Alert Like Rufus. Call 1-800-432-5378" on back. Brown fabric zip pouch worn on elastic band around waist: "www.myownstylepack.com" on label inside pouch. An insulin pump infusion device is adhered to the bear's abdomen with the canula tube running into the zippered pouch. A pierced stud earring is in each of the bear's ears. Fabric tag on leg reads: "Russ / Designed and manufactured expressly for Rufus: The Bear with Diabetes [TM] Corp. by Russ Berrie and Co., Inc. Oakland, N.J. / [...] Made in China"
In 1996, Carol Cramer created the first Rufus for her son Brian who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 3. Rufus the Bear (and Ruby the Bear) are available through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. This bear belonged to the donor, Kaitlin Marie, who was diagnosed at age 2.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: ca 1999
- maker: Russ Berrie and Company, Inc.
- Object Name: toy, teddy bear
- Physical Description: fabric (overall material)
- Physical Description: metal (bracelet material)
- Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 40 cm x 24 cm x 11 cm; 15 3/4 in x 9 7/16 in x 4 11/32 in
- place made: United States: New Jersey, Oakland
- place made: China
- ID Number: 2017.0192.01
- accession number: 2017.0192
- catalog number: 2017.0192.01
- Credit Line: Gift of Kaitlin Marie and Janet Katherine
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
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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.
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