UNC Greensboro alumni manage Barbie world at museum

Jul. 31—SPENCER — As the "Barbie" movie continues to captivate the world, two University of North Carolina at Greensboro alumni are managing their own Barbie world at the N.C. Museum of Dolls, Toys and Miniatures.

Saskia Lascarez Casanova, museum administrator, and Jasmin Zamora-Cuna, museum assistant, make up the full-time staff at the small museum in Spencer. The pair graduated together from UNCG's history and museum studies master's program.

With such a small staff, Zamora-Cuna and Lascarez Casanova wear many hats, including curation, content writing, marketing, and collections. The museum is also planning a move to a new location, which the duo is helping make happen.

"Our museum studies program helped prepare us for anything," said Zamora-Cuna, who also holds a bachelor's degree in history from UNCG. "The program showed us how to be flexible with themes and histories we are not familiar with and how we can use our skills to maneuver through our work."

The museum is the only one of its kind in North Carolina and one of only a handful of nonprofit museums of its type in the nation. Founded in 2012, it holds thousands of items, including the largest known Shirley Temple doll, Schoenhut Humpty-Dumpty, and a collection of Bob Mackie-designed Barbie dolls.

"The Bob Mackie Barbie dolls are really sought after and we have them divided by decades," said Zamora-Cuna, who is from Robbins. "The costumes that some of these Barbies have are really pretty and extravagant."

But both alumni said working at the museum has opened their eyes to the wide range of doll makers, dolls, and what can be learned from them.

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"I played with Barbies as a child and that was the doll that I knew," said Lascarez Casanova, who is from Concord. "So, we've had to do research and read up about different doll makers, thinking about how to talk about history and what was going on in the U.S. during that time period through these playthings, dolls, and miniatures."

As the first in her family to graduate high school and college, Zamora-Cuna's interest in museums stems from how institutions portray history. She also wants to use her work to help foster relationships with underrepresented communities. Lascarez Casanova has always loved history and teaching others about history. An internship at the N.C. Music Hall of Fame Museum cemented her desire to enter the museum field, but it was UNCG that helped narrow down her interest.

"UNCG really helped me, and the faculty were instrumental in my realization that I wanted to do curation work," said Lascarez Casanova. "I've learned a lot about how to interpret collections for different audiences and how to make diverse and inclusive narratives so everyone feels welcomed."

The museum is open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Located in North Carolina's third largest city, UNC Greensboro is among the most diverse, learner-centered public research universities in the state, with nearly 18,000 students in eight colleges and schools pursuing 175 areas of undergraduate and 250 areas of graduate study.

UNCG continues to be recognized in national publications for academic excellence, access, and affordability. For the fourth consecutive year, U.S. News and World Report ranked UNCG No. 1 in North Carolina for social mobility — helping more first-generation and lower-income students find paths to prosperity than any other public university in the state.

With a portfolio of more than $56 million in research and creative activity, UNCG's nearly 1,000 faculty and 1,700 staff help create an annual economic impact for the Piedmont Triad region in excess of $1 billion.