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.
2024 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!
Sheboygan County History Musuem
February – April 2024
Dacotah Prairie Musuem
May – September 2024
Castle Museum of Saginaw County Musuem
September 2024 – January 2025
2024 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!
Science Central
June – September 2024
Sacramento History Museum
September 2024 – January 2025
Recommendation:
The St. Louis Public Library Director of Marketing and Events
Cathy Heimberger wrote the following recommendation.
“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!
A good friend of ours was traveling in California and dropped by our exhibit in Sacramento. Here are just a few of the fantastic photos that he sent us from his time at our amazing exhibit “America’s Monsters, SuperHeroes and Villains”. If you are in the area, make sure you drop by and say “hi” to all these incredible toys. #vintagetoys #monstertoys #sacramentohistorymuseum #childhoodmemories #supermonstercity
Hello fiends, far and near!! We just closed out our exhibit at Science Central in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was a great exhibit with a lot of fun toys packed into display cases on the last day. I dressed up as Superman and gave docent tours to all who were interested? Do you recognize anybody in any of these display cases, tell me who? #sciencecentral #fortwayneindiana #toycollector #vintagetoys #nostalgia #museums #monster #superheroes
Wow and Wahoo.. here is a Fun and Monsterous lil' video of our exhibit which is now on display down in Sacramento History Museum. (These are Toys from my youth). I had a great childhood and just a part of it on display. I certainly had amazing parents. #travelingexhibit #toycollector #vintagetoys #MonsterKid #nostalgia #monsters
Goody Reel #5 From the Crypts. Vintage TV commercials full of stuff you remember and some stuff long forgotten. Music/ Dance &Food! Joe Frazier sells beer, Kool-Aid smashes thru a wall and saves the day. "Sometime time you feel like a nut..." . McDonalds, Mr. Whipple Dentyne and More!! #vintagememories #nostalgia #memorylane #supermonstercity #tvcommercial
Goody Reel #5, Song & Dance, Food, Music, Jingles and Joe Frazier
youtube.com
Twenty fun vintage commercials from the 7o's and 80's (maybe) . My Father loved over the top musical numbers. Here are some he collected from the editing roo...
A crazy pile of ephemera was calling out to me from the moldy pits of the Crypts. Here is a book by Johnny Weissmuller on swimming, here are some movie club flyers from when I was in high school, here are pieces of paper that nobody else probably saved, vintage photos, this and that. Take a look, what did you save? #JohnnyWeissmuller #ephemera #oldmovies #papercollection
Hello friends and fiends let’s look at a totally random box of miscellaneous toys that were calling my name and screaming to be looked at. Who they are, when they were, I don’t know all the answers. Maybe you do! If you recognize some incredible favorites then let me know who you loved and who you recognize, have a look and enjoy the fun. #toycollector #monstertoys #80stoys #coolstuff #supermonstercity
Below are the logos to some of the cultural institutions that have hosted our exhibitions
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