The University of Arkansas Museum has a 1996 Special Edition University of Arkansas University Barbie in its collections. This is a fact that I found out on my second day of classes while getting a tour and one I haven’t been able to forget about since. She is a full-size Barbie, still with her box, wearing an Arkansas Razorback cheerleading uniform: a bodysuit, a skirt, a pair of socks, and a pair of tennis shoes. She also comes with a set of pom-poms, one white and one red, and a hairbrush. The box has been opened and the Barbie has been removed and replaced who-knows how many times, but both the box and the Barbie are still there and in good condition, along with all of the accessories.

She was donated to the museum by the University of Arkansas Licensing Office in a group of other items. It’s hard to say exactly when this was, as the items were stored in the museum before being officially donated, but the finalized paperwork is dated 25 March 1996. The Barbie was part of a run of Special Edition University-themed Barbies. A handful of different schools had Barbies made with their cheerleading team’s uniform. The 1996 versions are no longer available for purchase new or used from any official Barbie sites, but they do have updated versions of the University of Arkansas Razorback doll that were made in 2012. The University of Arkansas is one of eight schools currently represented with University Barbies on the official Barbie website.

When I found out about this exhibit, I knew instantly that I wanted to put this Barbie on display. The reason why this doll is so relevant to me is because I have a Razorback Barbie of my own. I’ve had her since I was a little kid when my mom gave her to me. I don’t remember for sure if my mom got her as a gift as well or if she bought the Barbie when it was being sold, but she’d had her, unopened and in storage, and decided to give her to me because I liked to play with Barbies.

In terms of my University experience, that doll isn’t necessarily significant because it was my first introduction to the University or because it helped me decide to come to the University of Arkansas, consciously or subconsciously. More than anything, it’s just proof of how entrenched the Razorbacks were in my life as a child. I think there’s something about growing up in Arkansas (or, at least, in the town I’m from) where being a Razorback is part of your identity from a really young age. We rooted for the Razorbacks, we knew how to call the Hogs, we would have big gatherings for games, I had a bunch of Razorback gear even though I didn’t even like sports, and I have this doll. The Razorbacks were important to me because of my identity as someone from Arkansas, and I hold that identity very close even all of these years later.

I think another one of the main reasons that my doll feels so significant to me is because she connects me to my mom. The reason I kept her all of these years (at this point, close to a decade) even though all of my other Barbies are long gone, is because it was my mom’s. I have a lot of little things that were my mom’s when she was a kid that I ended up with, and I keep them around simply because they make me think of her. That’s what this doll does and that’s why it’s important to me. I think that, at the end of the day, it just has these little, individual pieces of my identity. Why is any random object important to me? The meanings aren’t always what we expect, and they aren’t always the most important part. If we try to break it down, we find that it makes up all these tiny details of who I am as a person.