Winnie-the-Pooh and friends Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga and Tigger are celebrating a new lease on their New York City life after enjoying many adventures together.
The original toys are looking refreshed after more than a year of much needed repairs by a textile conservator. They’re going back on display Wednesday at the New York Public Library, where they’ve resided since 1987.
An English boy, Christopher Robin Milne, was their original owner. He received them in the 1920s from his father, the author A.A. Milne, who based the Winnie-the-Pooh children’s stories on the stuffed animals.
The library says the yearlong conservation included neck alignment, clavicle repair and bottom fluffing.
“Being ever mindful of their care and condition, and given recent advances in textile conservation techniques, we decided that the time was right to undertake restorative work on these treasures,” library curator Michael Inman said in a statement. “The dolls have been not only cleaned, repaired and stabilised, thereby ensuring their continued survival, but also returned to a state that is in many ways closer to how they appeared when they were in the possession of the Milne family.”
Little Christopher first called the stuffed bear Edward Bear. He later renamed him, combining two names: Winnie for a real black bear at the London Zoo that had once served as a military mascot in Winnipeg, Canada, and Pooh for a pet swan.
Pooh will be 95-years-old on August 21.
The dolls were donated to the library by Milne’s publisher.
