Winnie-the-Pooh and Friends

Narrator: Winnie-the-Pooh and Friends. Five stuffed toy animals dating to circa 1921. Ranging in size from a teddy bear—just over a foot high—to a toy piglet—less than 5 inches high. 

The teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, is made of golden-brown fur, with amber-colored glass eyes and a nose created by brown wool stitching. Eeyore is a gray furry donkey, standing on all fours with his head bowed down. Kanga is a kangaroo with similar colored gray fur; she is standing on her back legs, and has a white felt front with a pocket in it. Tigger is a golden-and-brown striped tiger cub with green glass eyes, sitting on his haunches with his front paws resting in front of him. And the tiny Piglet is a pinkish-brown pig, once velvety in texture but now worn smooth, standing on his hind legs with his arms raised at his sides.

The toys are grouped together with Pooh and Tigger behind the others on plinths, with Pooh highest.

Interpretive commentary follows.

Actor: “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.”

Anna Deavere Smith: And so begin the adventures of Christopher Robin and Mr. Edward Bear—better known as Winnie-the-Pooh—in A.A. Milne’s classic 1926 children’s book. Pooh has brought joy to millions of children around the world. But for all his whimsy and wonder, Pooh was not conjured out of thin air. No, he was very real. And he’s sitting right here in this case, among his friends.

Christopher Robin Milne, son of English writer A.A. Milne, was given this stuffed bear on August 21, 1921—his first birthday. As Christopher’s toy collection grew, Winnie-the-Pooh was joined by a menagerie of stuffed animals.

Actor: Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga, and Roo.

Anna Deavere Smith: In time, this happy band—along with Christopher Robin himself—became inspiration for A.A. Milne’s fanciful stories of friendship and discovery.

When Christopher Robin Milne was an old man, he agreed that his childhood friends would have a very good home here at The New York Public Library. Except, sadly, for Roo, who vanished one day many years ago in an apple orchard. Today, Pooh and his friends are on display as much as possible, for the enjoyment of children—and, no less important, the used-to-be-children—who love them.