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
- 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
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_1287541
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-1ad5-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
