Littlest Pet Shop Bunny

Hasbro, ca. 2005

Molded PVC

Dimensions variable

Purchased from Toys R Us, 2005

Collection of Louis and Pauline Kazin

This grey bunny was purchased for me around 2005, a time when Hasbro Littlest Pet Shops were very popular. Originally produced by Kenner in the early 1990s, it was followed by an animated television series in 1995 and continued to grow. Littlest Pet Shop toys were a significant part of my childhood – one of my earliest memories of being engaged in active collecting and first experiences of feeling the sensation of nostalgia.

Years later, this bunny and other childhood toys of mine were acquired by my grandparents to become part of their collection. To locate an object for the museum, I explored their collection to choose an object that held the most significance in my memories. This grey bunny symbolizes a moment from the past, a moment when imagination was boundless and it could be activated and developed through physical objects, in contrast with children’s entertainment today that continuously progresses towards the purely digital.

The physicality of the object and its associated memories highlight the interplay of tangible and intangible heritage to me - objects can be collected, organized, and catalogued while the memories and stories associated with them have a more ephemeral value and require a different kind of documentation. The bunny does not represent a memory about the toy itself, but rather the child that played with the toy. The toy bunny acts as a site of memory evoking my childhood, and being part of my grandparents’ collection informs the meaning of an object. There is a personal significance of the toy in my life as a physical object with which I could engage in imaginative and creative games. There is also the social significance of the object in my grandparents’ life that implies that a singular mass manufactured object can hold various meanings and interpretations. This illustrates the way in which everyday objects change in role and importance, subtle meanings that are often lost once material culture enters a collection.

Acknowledging this transformation over time helps us understand the process of creating meaning in a dominant digital context. Objects and ideas can lose meaning through digitization, so the physicality of this toy acts as a source of memory and meaning. With the need to stay home, we find objects that bring thoughts and emotions of nostalgia to the forefront of the minds and act as a source of comfort and familiarity in unfamiliar times. During this period of social isolation, we begin to recognize how our everyday items become meaningful and crucial in our daily lives, thus the objects from our past are reinterpreted once more.

Sydney Zorony