Before Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and the rest of the gang were literary characters, they were stuffed animals, and they belonged to a real-life boy named Christopher Robin. Robin received Winnie the Pooh — whom he named after a real bear — from the British department store Harrods almost exactly 95 years ago, and Pooh and the rest of the toys inspired the book series.
Christopher Robin Milne and his father, author A.A. Milne, have since passed away, but the stuffed animals live on at the New York Public Library. Now, in fact, they're looking younger than ever, The Huffington Post reported.
They've just had their holes stitched up and worn-out areas patched over, and they returned to the building's rare books section on August 3.
“The New York Public Library takes the long-term preservation of these beloved dolls very seriously,” Michael Inman, the section's curator, said in a press release announcing the makeover. According to Inman, the museum staff took advantage of the latest advances in textile conservation technology.
"As a result of the treatments they have received, the dolls have been not only cleaned, repaired, and stabilized — 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," he added.
These are definitely some well-loved stuffed animals. We just feel bad that nobody's there to cuddle with them at night.
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