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Hello there! Original Pooh and friends welcome you to NY Public Library
Inside a glass case at the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street sits a bear and his friends: solemn and silent, but with a grand story to tell.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the original Winnie the Pooh and his friends—Kanga, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore!
Long before Pooh and friends appeared in the books by A.A. Milne—later immortalized in animated films starting with a Disney production in 1966—they were mainstays in the bedroom of Milne's son, a very real boy named Christopher Robin.
Sounds familiar?
You guessed right: Christopher Robin Milne is the same Christopher Robin in the Winnie the Pooh books!
On his first birthday—August 21, 1921—Christopher Robin received a teddy bear from his father, who had bought it from Harrods Department Store in London. Christopher named the bear Edward. After the arrival of Edward came more stuffed toys: Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, and Roo.
Christopher later decided to change the bear's name to Winnie-the-Pooh. The new name came from a combination of the names of a real bear and a pet swan.
“During the 1920s, there was a black bear named Winnie in the London Zoo who had been the mascot for the Winnipeg regiment of the Canadian army. Pooh was the name of a swan in When We Were Very Young,” the NYPL website noted.
But where's Owl and Rabbit, you might ask?
Well, A.A. Milne brought them to life later on as they seemed like they would be fun additions to the story.
And he was not mistaken.
If you are a fan of the books or the movies, you know how crazy yet adorable the plot is with Owl and Rabbit around. If you're familiar with the Heffalumps and the many times when Eeyore lost his tail, you know what I am talking about. If not, ask your children.
While Pooh and Friends lived in the Hundred Aker (or Acre) Wood, the original stuffed toys have lived in the New York Public Library since 1987. It is said that the toys were given to Milne's American publisher, but they just sat in a room gathering dust until someone suggested that they should be donated to the library.
Pooh and his friends have since lived at the Children's Center, a place where children of all ages can read in at atmosphere of fun learning.
Their “home” is further enlivened by a whimsical wall mural by illustrator Susy Pilgrim Waters, who is spot on in coming up with a masterpiece that embraces the child in all of us.
So... if you happen to be in New York, swing by the corner of the Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library is not hard to miss. Visit the real Pooh and friends and witness a part of children's literature in all its stuffy-fluffy glory. — BM, GMA News
