“What is a Mold-A-Rama?” by S.M. O’Connor

 

A Mold-A-Rama vending machine uses an injection molding process to manufacture small, hollow waxy plastic sculptures on-demand that children use as toys and adults keep as souvenirs.  Built in Chicago by people who didn’t believe in engineered obsolescence, many Mold-A-Rama vending machines have been operating in the same facilities for over half a century, while others are in the care of second or third-hand owners.  Most of the machines that remain in operation are owned and/or lovingly maintained by two family-owned enterprises who have been in the business for up to four generations.  Originally, Mold-A-Rama sculptures cost twenty-five cents and even today they only cost a few dollars.  Old Mold-A-Rama sculptures produced by machines that are no longer in operation or with molds that are no longer in use can sell anywhere from ten dollars to hundreds of dollars.  These include replicas of Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and Industry.[1]  The most-sought after Mold-A-Rama sculpture is the 1958 Purple People Eater, one of which sold for $809 in 2012.[2]  They became famous because of their use at Sinclair Oil Corporation’s Dinoland exhibit at the New York City World’s Fair in the early 1960s.  Each Mold-A-Rama machine has seventy pounds of polyethylene (waxy plastic) pellets in its hopper and to convert those pellets into liquid ready to be molded, they are heated at 225° to 250° Fahrenheit in the pot.[3] The way it works is that after the customer feeds cash into the machine – or, at a few select locations, swipes a card – two hydraulic cams close the two halves of the mold together, a third pushes polyethylene into the mold, and a fourth blows air into the sculpture to make it hollow.[4]  [These are negative molds made from an original sculpture.[5]] The liquid polyethylene at the core of the sculpture falls back into the tank.[6] Coolant chills the mold.[7]  The two mold halves part and another cam goes into motion to push the sculpture forward into a holding bin.[8]  The customer should wait a minute to let the finished product cool off before opening the bin to pull it out.[9] Also, the customer should initially hold the Mold-A-Rama sculpture upside down while it cools.[10]  There are very few Mold-A-Rama machines left, and most of them are at zoos.

Only two companies operate most of them. One of those companies is Mold-A-Rama, Inc. (the second company to have that name) in Brookfield, Illinois.  In Chicagoland, this company operates Mold-A-Rama vending machines at the Brookfield Zoo, the Lincoln Park Zoo, The Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower).  In addition, the company operates Mold-A-Rama vending machines at the Milwaukee Zoo; the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota; The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan; and the San Antonio Zoo.  The other company is Replication Devices, also known as Unique Devices, Inc. in Florida.  It operates Mold-A-Rama vending machines at Zoo Miami (also known as The Miami-Dade Zoological Park & Gardens), the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Orlando, Florida; Monkey Jungle in Redland, Florida (an unincorporated suburb of Miami); the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach Florida; Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Weeki Wachee, Florida; Gatorland in Orlando, Florida; Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida; the Toledo Zoological Park & Aquarium (formerly Toledo Zoological Gardens) and the Toledo Imagination Station (formerly the Center of Science and Industry) in Toledo, Ohio; the WonderWorks children’s museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Zoo Knoxville (formerly Knoxville Zoo) in Knoxville, Tennessee; and the Oklahoma City Zoo.  Replication Devices has labeled its Mold-A-Rama vending machines Mold-A-Matic™ machines.  The company also sells and leases out Mold-A-Rama machines.  The Knoxville Zoo acquired its Mold-A-Rama vending machines from Dollywood,[11] and the Knoxville Zoo depends on Replication Devices for parts and support services.[12]

Figure 1 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a Mold-A-Rama Space Robot from the Museum of Science and Industry. It is an example of a Mold-A-Rama sculpture that is no longer in production.

Figure 2 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the back of the Mold-A-Rama Space Robot from the Museum of Science and Industry. Mold-A-Rama figures are fragile and need to be carefully stored.

In 1937, inventor J.H. (“Tike”) Miller first started making figures when he found it difficult to replace a broken infant Jesus from a crèche (nativity scene) when he went back to the department store.[13]  He and his wife began to make and paint plaster figures in their basement.[14] They began to sell plaster figures in novelty shops.[15]  I do not know if he ever finished the book, much less got it published, but in 2013 Ken Glennon was writing a book he intended to entitle “Dimestore Dynasty of J.H. Miller,” and he visited Quincy, Illinois, where Miller’s factory was located and Quincy Herald-Whig’s Don O’Brien interviewed him.  Glennon explained that The J.H. Miller Company was located in Chicago until Miller moved his family and his business to Quincy, Illinois.[16]  The business address was 225 Hampshire Street in Quincy from 1941 to 1959.[17]  [Today, several windows in that building have a commanding view of the Mississippi River.]  Miller’s father was an executive with Kresge (which evolved into Kmart) and helped ensure Miller’s porcelain figures wound up on store shelves.[18]  Germany was the leading source of nativity scenes in the whole world, but, of course, during the Second Great World War, the American market was cutoff, and The J.H. Miller Company was perfectly poised to soon become the largest American manufacturer of nativity scenes.[19]  The J.H. Miller Company retained this position for several years after the conclusion of World War II.[20] In 1955, The J.H. Miller Company transitioned from the manufacture of plaster figures to the manufacture of waxy polyethylene figures using plastic mold injection technology, which was less expensive than plaster casting and allowed Miller to experiment with and enlarge his line of figures.[21] These were dinosaurs, jungle animals, aliens, and, of course, Christmas figurines.[22]  The Earth Invaders Miller manufactured then are now called “Miller Aliens” by collectors. [23]   In 1959, The J.H. Miller Company went bankrupt. [24]   Miller sold the technology to Automatic Retailers of America, Inc.  He worked with the company to develop Mold-A-Rama® vending machines that manufactured waxy souvenirs for twenty-five cents.  A.R.A. introduced the Mold-A-Rama vending machine at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, the Century 21 Exposition.[25]  The Mold-A-Rama sculptures produced at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair included a model of the Seattle Space Needle, a model of the Seattle Center Monorail, a Budai (also known as Hotei or Laughing Buddha), and a three-dimensional Century 21 Exposition logo.[26]

A.R.A.’s Mold-A-Rama, Inc. subsidiary manufactured Mold-A-Rama vending machines in Chicago.[27]  The retail price for a Mold-A-Rama vending machine was $3,600.[28]  Between 1962 and 1969, Mold-A-Rama, Inc. manufactured approximately 200 Mold-A-Rama vending machines.[29]  Mold-A-Rama machines made dinosaur figures for the Sinclair Oil Corporation’s Sinclair Dinoland exhibit at New York City’s second World’s Fair, EXPO New York (1964-65). [30]   [This was the second World’s Fair held in Flushing Meadows – Corona Park and was referenced with Stark Expo in Iron Man 2 (2010).  The first New York World’s Fair, EXPO New York City (1939-1940) was also held there.]  At Dinoland, Mold-A-Rama machines produced seven kinds of dinosaurs sculptures.  These included an Apatosaurus sculpture (very similar to the Sinclair Oil Company mascot, which is referenced with the DinoCo mascot in the Toy Story films); Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture; Stegosaurus sculpture; and Triceratops sculpture.[31] [Note that today scholars would insist on calling the Brontosaurus sculpture an Apatosaurus sculpture.] These cost just twenty-five cents.  The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has one of the green Mold-A-Rama Brontosaurus sculptures.  Sinclair gas stations sold bags of Mold-A-Rama dinosaurs for forty- nine cents.  Nostalgic baby boomers who want to purchase Mold-A-Rama dinosaurs that were actually made at Dinoland should make certain beforehand that dinosaur sculptures that are offered for sale have the inscription “1964-1965 New York World’s Fair.”  If that inscription is missing, the dinosaur sculpture was made by a Mold-A-Rama somewhere else, possibly at a much later time.  There may have been up to 150 Mold-A-Rama vending machines at EXPO New York. [32]  In addition to the Sinclair Oil Company, Disney, Pepsi, and other organizations had Mold-A-Rama machines at the World’s Fair.[33]  These other machines produced sculptures that included Disney figures, presidential busts, N.A.S.A.’s Space Lab and Project Mercury space capsule, and dolphins.[34]  [Incidentally, one of the life-size dinosaur statues from Dinoland, constructed by Louis Paul Jones Studios, the Trachodon, ended up at the Brookfield Zoo.]  Mold-A-Rama vending machines were popular at zoos, bus depots, train stations, airports, arcades, and shops. [35]  By 1964, there were Mold-A-Rama vending machines manufacturing Disney figurines at Disneyland; busts of Abraham Lincoln at Springfield, Illinois; and religious figurines at the Vatican.[36]  Mold-A-Rama was also prominent at the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal, Expo ‘67.[37]

A.R.A. decided to close down its subsidiary Mold-A-Rama, Inc.  That parent company evolved into Aramark.  One employee of the original Mold-A-Rama, Inc., Roy Ward, acquired several of the machines, as well as the right to operate the machines at the Brookfield Zoo and the Museum of Science and Industry.  [Miller, meanwhile, developed the “Golden Goat” machine that sat in grocery store parking lots.  These were sort of reverse vending machines where customers could turn in aluminum cans to be recycled in return for money.]  Doris Ward was a secretary at Interstate United, and on the eve of her retirement, her boss, William A. Jones, a Michigan State University graduate who was working as a supervising accountant, expressed interest in purchasing the Mold-A-Rama machines from Roy, and she replied that she and Roy had considered selling them the previous night.[38]  After William A. Jones worked with Roy Ward over weekends for a year-and-a-half, he purchased the Mod-A-Rama machines on April 22, 1971 and formed the William A. Jones Company (WAJCO).

Another small business owner who kept Mold-A-Rama machines in operation was Paul Nathanson of Minnesota.  He was one of the original franchise owners who worked with A.R.A.  Jones and Nathanson began to cooperate for the purpose of acquiring custom-made parts.  Nathanson had several accounts and owned more Mold-A-Rama machines than Jones.  In the early 1980s, Nathanson decided he wanted to get out of the business and Jones bought him out in 1985.[39]  Jones tripled the number of Mold-A-Rama machines he had when he purchased a total of fifty-five Mold-A-Rama machines from Nathanson and doubled his sales.[40]  Thus, William A. (“Bill”) Jones, Sr. became the largest operator of Mold-A-Rama machines in the Midwest.  He brought his sons, Paul Jones and Bill Jones, Jr. in to help him run WAJCO Around the turn of the century, WAJCO was able to purchase six Mold-A-Rama machines that went on sale on eBay.[41]  The Jones family ended up using them for spare parts.[42]  The most popular Mold-A-Rama vending machine WAJCO had by far was the one that produces dolphins at the Brookfield Zoo.[43]  The Jones family explained to the Chicago Tribune’s Eric Benderoff in 2006 that at the peak of the summer season, it produced 350 sculptures per day.[44]  Bill Jones, Sr. and Paul Jones also explained to Benderoff that all of the Mold-A-Rama machines at The Field Museum produced dinosaurs.[45]  There had been one that produced gorillas (which I imagine was a reference to Bushman, the popular Lincoln Park Zoo gorilla whose mounted remains have been on display at the Field Museum for over half a century) but when sales fell off they replaced it with one that produced Tyrannosaurus rexes (which was undoubtedly a reference to Sue).[46]  Bill Jones, Sr.’s favorite Mold-A-Rama machine, out of the sixty-eight he had in operation in 2006 across the Midwest and in Texas, was the one that produced U-505 models at the Museum of Science and Industry.[47]  That was his son Paul’s favorite one, too.  “But I have a different reason,” he told Benderoff.[48]  “That machine has few problems I have to fix.”[49]  In 2011, WAJCO became Mold-A-Rama, Inc.

The Mold-A-Rama souvenir-making machine in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Rosenwald Court (North Court) is now producing red Santa Claus figures.

Figure 3 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: The Mold-A-Rama souvenir-making machine in Rosenwald Court, near the Blue Stairs, is now producing red Santa Claus figures.

Figure 2 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This particular Mold-a-Rama produces Santa Claus figures. It is located on the Main Floor in the Central Pavilion inside Rosenwald Court. Figures cost $3.

Figure 3 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a close up picture of the Mold-a-Rama Santa Claus wax souvenir.

Tim Striggow is a third-generation Mold-A-Rama owner who operates and leases Mold-A-Matic machines in Florida, Tennessee, and Ohio.  His maternal grandfather, Eldin Irwin, started to lease Mold-A-Rama machines from A.R.A. back in the 1960s after he saw the technology demonstrated at a state fair and placed his units in Michigan and Ohio.  Then A.R.A. decided to get out of the business of building Mold-A-Rama machines and he purchased as many of the Mold-A-Rama machines and molds as he could.  His business was called Contour Shops, Inc.  He used trailers to bring Mold-A-Ramas to state fairs and carnivals.  Tim Striggow was thirteen when he started to accompany his grandfather and learn the trade of maintaining the machines.  About thirty-seven years ago, Eldin Irwin acquired the Mold-A-Rama machines owned by the Mold-A-Matic Company in Florida and adopted the Mold-A-Matic™ identity.  Around 1990, Eldin Irwin sold the business to Tim Striggow’s mother, Nancy Leslie, and stepfather, Tom.  In 2004, Tim Striggow and his wife, Denise, bought out his mother and stepfather, and changed the company name to Unique Souvenirs, Inc.  He brought in his son-in-law, Kevin Tucker.

A vlogger (video-blogger) with the handle The Carpetbagger has made a number of videos about visiting Mold-A-Rama machines across the country. He related in a 2015 video, “the hunt for Mold-a-Ramas,” in the course of profiles of the Mold-A-Rama machines at the Brookfield Zoo, the Sears Tower, and the Henry Ford Museum, that there were two more Mold-A-Rama machines he dubbed “rogue.”  These were at Jack White’s record store, where there was a Mold-A-Rama that makes guitars and at the Rotofugi toy shop in Chicago, where there was a Mold-A-Rama labeled a “Roto-A-Matic,” but it was broken and out of service.  Jack White’s record store, which he founded in Detroit in 2001, moved to Nashville in 2009, and is called Third Man Records.  [It houses the retail arm of his record label, Third Man Records, which opened a record pressing plant in Detroit this year.  However the Nashville location is also a music venue and houses the headquarters of the entire company.]  The Mold-A-Matic at Third Man Records is labeled the “Wax—A-Matic” and it is located in the shop’s Novelties Lounge.  It casts a red Jack White 1964 Airline guitar, a miniature replica of the guitar the singer-musician-songwriter used with his first band, the White Stripes.

Rotofugi is an art gallery as well as a toy store.  In 2013, Aimee Levitt recounted in the Chicago Reader how it had taken the previous four years for Rotofugi to get its Roto-A-Matic machine to work.[50]  In the course of explaining how a Mold-A-Rama vending machine works for How Stuff Works, Bernadette Johnson profiled Rotofugi’s Mold-A-Rama.[51]

Chicago toy store Rotofugi acquired and repurposed a Mold-A-Rama that was originally at the Los Angeles Zoo. They call it the Roto-a-Matic, and it produces a toy called the Helper Dragon from a new custom mold of a sculpture by artist Tim Biskup. You can get one by purchasing a token for $6, putting it in the machine and watching it go, or by ordering the sculpture from the store.

The mold was made by 3-D scanning an original sculpture, designing a mold using CAD (computer-aided design) and having an aluminum cast made of the mold. Rotofugi had planned to regularly feature new designs by artists, but making new molds has proven difficult and expensive, so for now they are simply changing the color each month.

I asked Rotofugi for an update, and Gallery Director/Toy Wranger Kirby Kerr replied, “We haven’t completely given up on our ‘Roto-A-Matic’ project just yet, but it’s definitely been sidelined.  Our machine is currently in storage.”  Rotofugi Designer Toys is located at 2780 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.  The Chicago Sports Museum has a Mold-A-Rama vending machine that produces sculptures of the Chicago skyline.  [Please note that a friend with whom I used to work at the Museum of Science and Industry alerted me on Thursday, December 22, 2017 that the Mold-A-Rama at the Chicago Sports Museum broke down about a year ago and they have not been able to get it fixed yet.]

In 2015, The Capetbagger also made a video about the last remaining operational Disneyland Mold-A-Rama, “Original Disneyland Mold-a-Rama.”  It is in the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois.  Labeled the “Disneyland Toy Factory,” for $5 it produced a green Mickey Mouse figure for his daughter Annabelle.  It is part of the Disney Gallery, which is full of sculptures from Disney theme parks and stores.  

The blog Mold-A-Ramas stated in 2015 that Tampa’s Lowery Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida and Mote Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida both also had Mold-A-Rama machines in operated.  In her 2014 blog post “Mold-A-Rama at Busch Gardens and the Mote Aquarium,” Korinthia Klein shared pictures of Mold-A-Rama sculptures she acquired at Busch Gardens and Mote Aquarium.

In 2016, the Brookfield Zoo celebrated the 50^th anniversary of Mold-a-Rama at Brookfield Zoo.  The celebration included a “Mold-A-Rama Hall of Fame” display case.   Paul Jones told the Chicago Tribune’s Steve Johnson that a Mold-A-Rama vending machine held seventy pounds of plastic pellets in its hopper and yet between Memorial Day and Labor Day, they had to refill the hoppers of most machines every day at the Brookfield Zoo.[52]  Thirteen of the sixty-one Mold-A-Rama vending machines the family owned were at the Brookfield Zoo.[53]  Jones said that people sometimes tell him that 3D printers will put him out of business but he counters the Mold-A-Rama is the “original 3-D printer.”[54]

In 2016, Wendy McClure paid tribute to Mold-A-Rama in the Chicago Reader.[55]

You don’t go looking for a Mold-A-Rama. That’s not how it works. It’s true that a Google search will reveal all the locations of these 1960s-era souvenir machines, including at least 20 around Chicago. But ideally you stumble across one, glowing quietly in a vestibule or stairwell, with its translucent bubble dome waiting for you.

When this happens, you’ll likely be in a place that you’ve visited plenty of times before in your life: the zoo, the museum, the skyscraper, the other zoo, the other museum. The place itself doesn’t really matter, even though the ostensible point of Mold-A-Rama is to create a souvenir of that place, a molded object representing it in some way. But then, the object doesn’t really matter either. Mold-A-Rama isn’t about the plastic rhino, or the dolphin or the kangaroo or steam locomotive or dinosaur or bust of Lincoln or John Deere tractor or alligator or German submarine. (It is just a little bit about the gorilla, however. The one from the zoo, waving hello. That one is cool.)…

Ultimately, though, Mold-A-Rama is about dwelling in the perpetual rather than the past. There’s now a company in Brookfield called Mold-A-Rama Inc., dedicated to keeping the machines running. And while it’s true that your exclusive product—your penguin or lion or fighter jet or Komodo dragon or bison or space shuttle or whatever—doesn’t signify much in and of itself, you might as well take it home and keep it after it has cooled in your hands. Just don’t think of it as a ‘collectible,’ or as kitsch; or God forbid go on eBay and buy ‘rare’ Mold-A-Rama exclusive products of anonymous moments you were never a part of. That said, if you find yourself with three or four or ten of these memory thingies, it’s usually an indication of a life well lived. And if you keep only one, keep the gorilla, always and forever saying hello and good-bye.

The Carpetbagger’s video “New Mold-A-Ramas” showing new Mold-A-Rama figures and a Mold-A-Rama t-shirt with the years that various Mold-A-Rama sculptures debuted at Brookfield Zoo which a friend in the Chicago area bought for him at the Brookfield Zoo and sent to him.  This was a sequel to a video he made, “The Mold-A-Rama Collection,” where he had his young daughter show off his sizable collection of Mold-A-Rama sculptures.  Between the two videos, he and his daughter have exhibited a nearly exhaustive collection of newly-made Mold-A-Rama sculptures that are available now, because he has visited most of the operational Mold-A-Rama machines in the U.S.A. because he went out of his way to visit the zoos, museums, and roadside attractions where he knew they were still in operation and he has avoided purchasing old Mold-A-Rama sculptures second-hand.  Brennan Murphy, formerly of Riverside, Illinois, amassed what was likely the largest collection of Mold-A-Rama sculptures in the world, with somewhere between 600 and 700 figures, as of 2006.[56]

Addendum

I visited The Field Museum of Natural History with my family on Friday, March 9, 2018 and found three of the aforementioned four Mold-A-Rama machines.

This is a Mold-Rama machine sitting outside the exhibit Evolving Planet on the Upper Level of The Field Museum.

Figure 4 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the Mold-A-Rama machine outside Evolving Planet on the Upper Floor of The Field Museum as seen on Friday, March 9, 2018.

Figure 5 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: The Mold-A-Rama outside Evolving Planet makes green triceratops sculptures.

These are the Mold-A-Rama machines near the Dino Lab Store, Sea Mammals exhibit/picnic Eating Area, Explorer Café, washrooms, the James Simpson Theatre/3D Theater, and West Entrance on the Ground Floor of The Field Museum.

Figure 6 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is one of two Mold-A-Rama machines on the Ground Floor of The Field Museum outside the James Simpson Theatre/3D Theater.

Figure 7 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Mold-A-Rama machine produces a green brontosaurus sculpture.

Figure 8 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a close-up of the example green brontosaurus sculpture.

Figure 9 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the other Mold-A-Rama machine on the Ground Floor of The Field Museum outside the James Simpson Theatre/3D Theater.

Figure 10 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Mold-A-Rama machine produces a red Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture.

Figure 11 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a close-up of the example red Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture.

 

End Notes

[1] Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[2] Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

See also Rob Lammle, “A Brief History of Mold-A-Rama,” Mental Floss, 18 March 2014 (http://mentalfloss.com/article/55241/brief-history-mold-rama) Accessed 11/20/17

[3] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006 (http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-archive-mold-a-rama-technology-20160817-story.html) Accessed 11/20/17

Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 4

(https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama3.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[4] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

See also Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3

(https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama2.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[5] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 4

(https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama3.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[6] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3

[7] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

See also Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3

[8] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

See also Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3

[9] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

[10] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3 (https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama2.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[11] John Shearer, “Vintage souvenir machines popular at Knoxville Zoo,” Chattanooga Times Free Press, 8 September, 2013 (http://www.pressreader.com/usa/chattanooga-times-free-press/20130908/281981785264652) Accessed 11/20/17

[12] John Shearer, “Old money-making machines still humming at Knoxville Zoo,” Knoxville News Sentinel, 3 September, 2013 (http://archive.knoxnews.com/business/old-money-making-machines-still-humming-at-knoxville-zoo-ep-510461355-355513361.html/) Accessed 11/20/17

[13] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times & The Cocheco Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[14] Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[15] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[16] Don O’Brien, “Author coming to Quincy to find out more about J.H. Miller Co.,” Herald-Whig, 19 April, 2013 (http://www.whig.com/story/22023147/author-coming-to-quincy-to-find-out-more-about-jh-miller-co#) Accessed 11/20/17

See also “The J.H. Miller Company,” Rodney’s Dimestore Gallery

(http://rodneysdimestoregallery.com/j_h__miller_company) Accessed 11/20/17

[17] O’Brien

[18] O’Brien

[19] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[20] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[21] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[22] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[23] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[24] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[25] Steve Johnson, “Smelly, plastic and nostalgic, Mold-A-Rama celebrates 50^th birthday at Brookfield Zoo” Chicago Tribune, 17 August, 2016 (http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-mold-a-rama-50th-birthday-20160817-story.html) Accessed 11/20/17

[26] Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[27] Ibid

[28] Ibid

[29] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 2

(https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama1.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[30] “Mold-Rama Draws ‘Em,” Billboard, 12 December, 1964, p. 43

[31] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[32] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[33] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[34] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[35] “Mold-Rama Draws ‘Em,” Billboard, 12 December, 1964, p. 43

[36] “Mold-Rama Draws ‘Em,” Billboard, 12 December, 1964, p. 43

[37] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[38] John Fecile, “Mold-A-Rama-Rama! The Secrets Behind Chicago’s Plastic Souvenir Empire,” WBEZ 91.5 Chicago, 13 November, 2015 (https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/mold-a-rama-rama-the-secrets-behind-chicagos-plastic-souvenir-empire/0cdbea6b-d991-420a-9a3e-62dcc0c072d1) Accessed 11/21/17

[39] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

[40] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

[41] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

[42] Ibid

[43] Ibid

[44] Ibid

[45] Ibid

[46] Ibid

[47] Ibid

[48] Ibid

[49] Ibid

[50] Aimee Levitt, “Show us your…Roto-A-Matic,” Chicago Reader, 30 May 2013 (https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/rotofugi-squibbles-ink-roto-a-matic-mold-a-rama/Content?oid=9814048) Accessed 11/20/17

[51] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 6

(https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama6.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[52] Johnson

[53] Johnson

[54] Johnson

[55] Wedny McClure, “Mold-A-Rama memories harden like molded plastic,” Chicago Reader, 23 June, 2016

(https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/moldarama-souvenir-museums-science-industry-brookfield-zoo/BestOf?oid=22604819) Accessed 11/20/17

[56] Bernderoff