A teddy bear museum is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

about

teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy b ...

s. There are many teddy bear museums around the world. The world's first Teddy Bear Museum was based in

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It was founded by Judy Sparrow in 1984, and housed a collection of antique

s and related items. It closed in 2006. The British broadcaster Gyles Brandreth founded a Teddy Bear Museum in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

. After 18 years it was relocated to the Polka Theatre in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

and then, in 2016, relocated again to

Newby Hall Newby Hall is a country house beside the River Ure in the parish of Skelton-on-Ure in North Yorkshire, England. It is 3 miles south-east of Ripon and 6 miles south of Topcliffe Castle, by which the manor of Newby was originally held. A Grade I ...

, near

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

, in North Yorkshire. The

V&A Museum of Childhood Young V&A, formerly the V&A Museum of Childhood, is a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum (the "V&A"), which is the United Kingdom's national museum of applied arts. It is in Bethnal Green and is located on the Green itself in the East End ...

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...

also has an extensive range of teddy bears. The Jeju Teddy bear museum in South Korea has many kinds of teddy bears from various countries. The Izu Teddy Bear Museum opened in

Itō, Shizuoka 280px, Itō City Hall is a city located on the eastern shore of the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 68,773 in 36,717 households and a population density of 550 persons per km². The ...

, Japan in 1995. It has a collection of various teddy bears, including "Teddy Girl".

Other notable museums

Dorset Teddy Bear Museum The Dorset Teddy Bear Museum is a teddy bear museum in Dorchester, Dorset, southern England. The museum includes Teddy Bear House and displays antique and other teddy bears. Bears on display include Paddington Bear, Rupert Bear Rupert Be ...

, Dorchester, England * The Merrythought Teddy Bear Shop & Museum, Shropshire, England *The Den of Marbletown, Teddy Bear Museum, Kingston, New York, U.S. *Deutsches Teddybären Museum (German Teddy Bear Museum) *Teddy Bear Museum Pattaya, Thailand *TeddyVille Museum, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia -opened 2016 *Teseum, Teddy Bear Safari Theme Park, Jeju Island, South Korea *Nasu Teddy Bear Museum, Japan *Hida Takayama Teddy Bear Eco Village, Takayama, Japan *My lovely Bear Teddy Museum, Yaroslavl, Russia

Defunct

* Teddy Bear Museum at N Seoul Tower, South Korea - opened in 2008 * Teddy Bear Museum of Naples, Florida, USA — operated from 1990 to 2005

References

External links

Teddy Bear Museum Directory

TeddyVille Museum PenanIZU Teddy Bear MuseumNASU Teddy Bear MuseumJeju Teddy Bear Museum(in English)IZU Teddy Bear Museum Instagram official
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