Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry — Attraction in Mansfield

A wonderful little museum attached to the Barnes and Noble book store in Storrs Center. The exhibition of puppets of all kinds from around the world and many different eras are fun and fascinating whether you consider them as objects of Fine or Folk Art. The space is clean and well-lit, and the staff is friendly and knowledgeable, but not intrusive. Be sure to check out the back corridor as it has interesting puppetry themed photography. Genuinely a little gem of a museum and performance space (there is a small puppetry theater at the back of the main exhibition hall). Small yes, but worth seeing, especially if you are going to eat in Downtown Storrs. Also there was plenty of free parking within a couple of block radius...

I love visiting the Ballard Institute Museum! It is a small Museum connected to the UCONN Bookstore which makes it very convenient for both.

A visit here is free and fun though they welcome donations. I don't know how often they change the exhibits because I only come two or three times a year but they've always had new exhibits when I have come.

It is very informative with each display showing who made the puppets, where they've been shown (tv shows, etc.), what kind of puppet they are, and so forth.

Some are marionettes, rod puppets, sock puppets, paper mache, etc.

Highly imaginative and inventive, fun to learn about whether you are a youngster or an adult.

So, if you ever get up to the UCONN...

So very different from the exhibit that was located in the Jorgensen theatre years ago. It used to be filled with a variety of puppets from different time frames. Also, there was no existence of a need to raise capital. There is a book store now which is totally unrelated to puppetry. My sister participated in the Uconn puppetry program as well as my daughter. Our visit was extremely...