Other People’s Collections- Ella Jenkins’ Spinning Tops

Ella Jenkins “the first lady of children’s music” collected spinning tops during her travels around the world and she willed them to the Chicago Children’s Museum. They are currently being displayed along with information about Ella and other artifacts in the Eleanor C. Beidler Changing Exhibit Display on the second floor of the museum.

The exhibit explains that she liked tops because playing with them helped her to think.

There is an old flier in the display case from a time when Ella brought some tops to the museum: “Come sing along and spin tops and dreidels with Ella Jenkins and Louis Berman” it invites.

I was all ready to try the tops outside the display case but it turned out that they were permanently affixed, of course!