WINNER

2026 Senior Prize for Outstanding Toy Research, International Toy Research Association

WINNER

2024 Lawrence W. Levine Award for Best Book in American Cultural History, Organization of American Historians

WINNER

2024 Ray and Pat Browne Award for Best Single Work in Popular and American Culture, Popular Culture Association

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ABOUT ROB GOLDBERG

Dr. Rob Goldberg is an award-winning author, historian, and educator. He holds a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Pennsylvania. He is Head of the History Department at Germantown Friends School.

Rob’s work has been featured or cited in numerous publications including The New Yorker, New York Times, and Sweet July, and his writing has been published in Ms. magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Recent guest appearances include WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show and the Playground Podcast with Chris Byrne.

Rob has also appeared on TV and film documentaries, including the History Channel series The Toys That Built America and Barbie Uncovered.

Rob loves to share his research on the social history of toys. He has been a guest speaker at numerous museums and universities— including the Strong Museum of Play, Houston Toy Museum, University of Pennylvania, Rutgers University, UC-San Diego, University of Houston, Bard Graduate Center, and the Center for Material Culture Studies at University of Delaware. He is available for group talks and workshops on toy history for K-12 students, as well as for teachers who wish to bring toy sources into the U.S. History curriculum.

To contact Rob, click here. On Instagram he is @toyhistorian. More of his work can be found at Linktree.