The Barbie Hall of Fame

Address:545 Ramona St.
Palo Alto, California

The Barbie Hall of Fame exists on many websites and search engines will gladly help you find them, but unfortunately the actual Barbie Museum in Palo Alto closed in 1999. Created by what may be the number one collector of Barbie memorabilia on Earth, Evelyn Burkhalter, the museum spanned more than 30 years of Barbie history from the Jackie Kennedy Barbie to Desert Storm Ken. When she lost her lease, she sold the collection and closed the museum. It is believed that Mattel purchased much of the collection, but we are not aware of a display open to the general public at Mattel.

If you find yourself in Holland, a free exhibit containing five thousand Barbie dolls is located in Wijchen, Gelderland at the Think Pink! Barbiemuseum. Not interested in a trip to Europe – Barbie is such an element of 20th century American culture that you can find Barbie's on display at many museums around the country. The original Barbie is on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. For a full exhibit on Barbie, head to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis for "Barbie, the Fashion Experience" or to Hawaii for the private collection of Florence Marton in Kailua, Hawaii. The exhibit is free but you better call for an appointment and you better love Barbie and Ken. Florence has a few thousand of them in what she calls the "Hawaii Loves Barbie Dolls Museum". The bottom line of all this is there are people all over the world who have dedicated years to their Barbie collections. Use Google to find them and good luck. We gave you some pointers to start. And write Mattel and tell them to open up a display in California.