Object Details
Description
Walt Disney’s cartoon character Mickey Mouse has appeared on American consumer goods ranging from yo-yos to lunch boxes to watches to handheld electronic calculators. This device can be used either to do calculations or, in quiz mode, as an educational game.
It has a bright yellow plastic case with a black and white plastic cutout of Mickey Mouse on the cover. Mickey Mouse holds a sheet that reads: MICKEY (/) MOUSE’S (/) SCHOOL (/) BOOK. Opening the latch reveals a calculator with eighteen rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a clear key, four arithmetic function keys, a longer bar marked “?”, and a total key. Below these keys is a switch that may be set either at “Calc” or “Quiz.” Next to this switch is the on/off switch.
Behind the keyboard is a green fluorescent display. Above this is a green light marked “Right” and a red one marked “Wrong;” above this is a plastic cutout of the face of Mickey Mouse. A space at the top of the calculator would hold two batteries. It presently has no batteries and the cover is missing. A jack for a power adapter is on the top edge.
Next to the calculator is a space that could hold a ruler. This example has no ruler. The inside of the lid of the case – right of the calculator when it is open – hold a pad of paper with odd numbers jotted on it. A sticker below the paper on the inside of the lid reads: IN ORDER TO REFILL PAD, PLEASE NOTE, (/) PAD SIZE TO FIT INTO YOUR MICKEY MOUSE (/) NOTE BOOK WOULD BE (89x149x6m/m SIZE) (/) 007577.
The back of the case has another image of Mickey Mouse. A mark in the molded plastic near the bottom reads: MADE IN TAIWAN.
The calculator dates from between 1974, when inexpensive electronic calculators became common, and 1986, when it was given to the Smithsonian. Hence a rough date of 1980. No specific printed references to this calculator found. It resembles some Unisonic calculators.
References:
Ted Hake, Hake’s Price Guide to Character Toys, New York: Avon Books,1998, pp. 444–455.
Michael Stern, Stern’s Guide to Disney Collectibles, Paducah, N.Y.: Collector Books, 1989, pp. 10–55. This includes only materials from 1928-1938.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of John B. Priser
date made
ca 1980
ID Number
1986.0988.340
catalog number
1986.0988.340
accession number
1986.0988
Object Name
electronic calculator
Physical Description
plastic (carrying case; front of calculator; cutouts; keys; buttons material)
metal (circuitry material)
Measurements
overall: 1 1/2 in x 4 in x 6 5/8 in; 3.81 cm x 10.16 cm x 16.8275 cm
place made
Taiwan
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Computers
Computers & Business Machines
Handheld Electronic Calculators
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1287541