A Celebration of Monsters, Superheroes, and Villains in traveling museum exhibitions!
SuperMonster市City! traveling exhibits are derived from co-founder David Barnhill’s private collection of an estimated 200,000 toys, posters, games, books, films, and more. Co-founder Stephen Rueff curates the objects in social and political contexts through reflective and informative texts, artist profiles, and commentary. Barnhill and Rueff bring new insights to America’s iconic mythical figures from America’s Golden Age of toys.
2025 Exhibition Dates:
Spies and Space: Toys of the Cold War Era is an exhibition reflects on how the drama and intrigue of real-world espionage, and the fascination with outer space, seeped into American and Russian popular culture during the Cold War Era. Follow the links below for more info!
Wright Museum of World War II
Wolfeboro, New Hampshire,
June 1 – September 1, 2025
Now Open!
For the first time in its history, the Wright Museum hosts a one-of-a-kind exhibit covering the Cold War Era. This exhibit explores how WWII laid the groundwork for the tension-filled decades that followed.
The exhibit features objects on loan from the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, as well as the dynamic ‘Spies and Space: Toys of the Cold War Era’ pop-culture exhibition from SuperMonsterCity! This exhibit runs during the busiest part of the museum’s 2025 season.
Many thanks to our hosts at the Wright Museum of WWII including: Executive Director Peggy Hennelly-Maniates, Curator Justin Gamache, Donna Hamill, Administrative Manager and Volunteer Coordinator; Gail Schulz, Guest Services; Mike Mead; and the other staff, interns, volunteers, and Board members, all of whom made is feel welcomed and made the installation easy and the results look spectacular! Thank you all!
On May 28 SuperMonsterCity! co-founders David Barnhill (Collector) and Stephen Rueff (Curator) made a special presentation to over 60 museum patrons to share the history of toys and pop culture from the U.S. and Soviet Union during the Cold War Era.
2025 Exhibition Dates:
This exhibition explores how American monsters, superheroes, and villains impacted American culture from the 1960s to the 1990s and became iconic characters reflecting America’s changing values and social tensions. Through this unique display of hundreds of toys, posters, media, and text panels, this exhibition has been enjoyed by thousands of people in cultural institutions across the U.S.
Follow the links below for more information!
Chippewa Valley Musuem
Eau Claire, WI October 6 – December 28, 2025
The Chippewa Valley Museum tells surprising, entertaining, and authentic stories revealing the larger story of America.
Testimonial:
The St. Louis Public Library Director of Marketing and Events
Cathy Heimberger endorses our exhibitions!
“As the director of marketing for the St. Louis Public Library I am tasked with bringing exhibits to our Central Library that are unique and have a broad appeal. I met David and Stephen while attending an American Association of Museums conference and I knew immediately that I wanted to work with them and bring this one of a kind experience to St. Louis. They didn’t disappoint.
“Our exhibit consisted of more than 500 items from David’s personal collection and attracted visitors of all ages and backgrounds. The exhibit was a natural fit for the library as monsters and villains have lived on the shelves of public libraries from our earliest days. We saw a spike in our graphic novel checkouts during the four month run of the exhibit. I highly recommend bringing this exhibit to your organization.”
Check out these pictures from the St. Louis Public Library
Exhibited October 2022 – January 2023
Video Testimonials!
Goldstein Museum of Design Director
Lin Nelson-Mayson interview and exhibition images
Historic Duluth Depot Program Director
Briana Johnson interview and exhibition images
Video: Attendees share their thoughts on our exhibitions
Click this LINK for interviews and installation images (if asked, password is SMC)
SuperMonster市City! exhibits strive to be carbon neutral!
As a proud member of TerraPass, we offset 100% of CO2 emissions from shipping and related travel.
We inform host institutions of the amount of CO2 emissions upon request for use in their sustainability reports.
For more on SuperMonster市City!
Contact email: Stephen@SuperMonsterCity.com
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Toy photos above by Steve Zerby
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SuperMonster市City
SuperMonsterCity! celebrates monsters, superheroes and villains in traveling exhibitions and more!
Here I am showing off some of my newest framed acquisitions. These are posters that have been in my collection for decades and decades. Finally, I have decided they must enjoy their celebrity and have their day on the wall. Take a look at the stuff I’m choosing, tell me what you think. I’m almost out of wall space.#supermonstercity #popculture #posters #art
Let’s look at a random bag of old and new stuff from the 60s the 70s the 80s and today. Here is stuff I got at a toy con just last weekend and here are some toys that have been following me for years haunting my shelves asking “please put me in a video, please I wanna be famous”. Take a look, which toys do you like and which toys do you remember and which toys are your favorite? Thanks #supermonstercity #vintagetoys #toycollector #funstuff #powerrangers #mntoyposse
Hello fiends far and near, here is some of the promotional material we have been using for the last 10 years. Also included are some of the advertisements and promotions that various museums have used with our exhibit. Please take a look and pass it along to the curators and museum directors that you know. Thanks a bunch howl at the moon and enjoy the day  #supermonstercity #travelingexhibits #museumexhibition #popculture
Frankenstein fiend’s listen up. Here is a fun little book that we published in 2018. It is available on Amazon. It contains original artwork from around the world and incredible photos of some of my favorite Frankenstein toys. If you collect Frankenstein stuff, take a look. #frankenstein #vintagetoys #supermonstercity #maryshelley![]()
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Let’s listen to this absolutely bizarre and scary doll I bought today. It seems to have an obsession with my pancreas. What series is this doll from? Why is it so spooky and is it made for kids? I got it at Target and it whispered to me and I had to buy it.any. Any comments or answers? #gartenofbanban #scarydoll #supermonstercity #spookyvibes
Below are the logos to some of the cultural institutions that have hosted our exhibitions
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