The National Farm Toy Museum is home to more than 10,000 miniature implements.
The National Farm Toy Museum is home to more than 10,000 miniature implements.
Transcript
[Kohlsdorf] Just off highway 20 in Dyersville, the National Farm Toy Museum gives visitors a small scale look at Iowa's biggest industry.
[Amanda Schwartz] We call ourselves the farm toy capital of the world.
[Amanda Schwartz] We have three major manufacturers that are based here historically, the Ertl Company, now known as TOMY International, as well as Scale Models and SpecCast.
[Kohlsdorf] Since its founding in 1986, the museum has collected more than 10,000 compact farm toys and ag equipment replicas. Machines in every color and style fill the shelves and display cases. Rare and international models sourced from Iowa and beyond capture the history of farming in miniature.
[Amanda Schwartz] People, I think, are amazed when they come and visit us, what we have to offer, the selection and variety. When you see it all together at once, it is a little overwhelming, but it's a lot of fun and it's been fun to curate over the years.
[Kohlsdorf] Surrounded by tiny models and die cast toys, the museum also makes room for Bernie Kluesner's handcrafted wooden implements, each one a small work of art built entirely without screws or nails.
[Bernie Kluesner] I started in 1994 making toys, and they're all wooden, put together with Elmer's wood glue, and they were put in, in a museum in 2017. Since then I made, I think, 20 more. There was 60 of them in there right now.
[Kohlsdorf] In their own small way, all of these models honor Iowa's big agricultural tradition.
[Amanda Schwartz] Farm toys evoke memories in people, even from the youngest to the oldest guests that we have. There's a connection there. Either they're carpet farmers or they were carpet farmers. It brings back memories. Oh, I had that toy or my grandpa used that tractor. There's just a lot of fun connections that have been made with people that visit our museum.