Barbie
Inducted in 1998

The year is 1959. Americans are enjoying the incredible economic expansion of the '50s. Secure in suburbia, the Baby Boomers are coming of age. Until now, wars and depression were all that young adults faced. Suddenly in the Eisenhower years, teenagers came into the spotlight. Their lives were full of their own fashions, lifestyles and fun! To the younger child, this all meant a great deal of preparation. Times were changing quickly!

The inspiration for the Barbie doll came as Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler watched her young daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls. She and her friends liked to play adult or teenage make-believe with the paper dolls, imagining them in roles as college students, cheerleaders and adults with careers.

Ruth immediately recognized that experimenting with the future through pretend play was an important part of growing up. She noticed a marketing void and was determined to fill that niche with a three-dimensional fashion doll. Her all-male design staff, however, had their doubts.

Several years and several designs later, Mattel introduced Barbie, the Teen-Age Fashion model, to skeptical toy buyers at the annual Toy Fair in New York. Never before had they seen a doll so completely unlike the baby and toddler dolls popular at the time. Undaunted, Mattel innovatively advertised the doll on television and instantly had a hit. Thus was born Barbie and 39 years later this $1.9 billion-a-year global industry is stronger than ever.

Since her invention, Barbie has grown to become the most popular toy ever created by changing with the times. The Barbie doll has had three face sculptings since its introduction. Mattel's design and development staff has been adept at identifying trends for the Barbie doll that relate to the lives of teenage America. The first change was in 1967 when Barbie went "Mod" with a new face sculpting. By the end of the 1970s, Barbie's face was again resculpted to a wide smile and sun-streaked hair that showcased the beauty trends of the day. In the 1980s, Barbie kept current as an aerobics instructor, an executive, a rock star and a couture-inspired sophisticate reflecting the popularity of nighttime soap operas.

Now, Mattel is taking this a step further with new sculptings and hair color. The Barbie doll's new look in 1998 is contemporary and soft. She wears minimal make-up to create a more natural appearance. As we head toward the millennium, Barbie is already stepping into the future, allowing girls to use their computer to program and personalize their Barbie doll or design, create, play and dream using Barbie software. Today in her 39th year, Barbie reflects the aspirations, hopes and future realities of an entire generation of little girls who still see her as representing the same dreams as when she was introduced in 1959.