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Lecture

Stephen Jacobs and Megan Nathan
Forget About the Dreidel! The Jewish History of the Toy and Games Industries

Wednesday 4.02.2026

How to watch

This lecture starts on 4 February at 7:00pm (UK).

Summary

First in Germany and then in the US, Jewish designers, entrepreneurs, and inventors helped shape the Western toy and game industries for over 200 years. A short list of their work includes Lionel Trains, Hot Wheels, Barbie, Mr. Potato Head, the Magic 8-Ball, Teddy’s Bear, the home video game console, and thousands more. In this webinar, we take a fascinating look at the industry across six periods: Germany before the wars, the US before the wars, World War I, the Depression and World War II decades, the emergence of pinball, the post-war boom, and the video game era.
Jewish History & Culture 709 lectures
Science and Technology 29 lectures

Stephen Jacobs

An image of Stephen Jacobs

Stephen Jacobs is an interdisciplinary scholar who works in several different areas that often overlap, including Game Design and Interactive Narrative, Toy and Game History, Digital Humanities, and Free and Open Source Software and Free Culture.

He has held the position of Scholar-in-Residence at The Strong National Museum of Play since 2007. His most recent game project, The Original Mobile Games, was recently upgraded and is available on the Nintendo Switch, the App Store, and Google Play.

He recently retired from the Rochester Institute of Technology after 30 years at the University. While there, he was instrumental in creating the M.S. and B.S. degrees in Game Design and Development, was one of the first Associate Directors for RIT’s Center for Media Art, Games, Interaction and Creativity (MAGIC), and its MAGIC Spell Studios.

Megan Nathan

An image of Megan Nathan
Megan Nathan is the Program and Special Initiatives Director at Kirsh Philanthropies, where she oversees a diverse portfolio of strategic grants advancing Jewish life, Israel engagement, and addressing antisemitism. Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer of the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC), where she equipped students nationwide with tools to advocate for Israel on campus and in their communities. Megan began her career at AIPAC in Washington, D.C. and later worked at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC), building networks among leading NGOs, Fortune 500 companies, and military leaders to promote the importance of global development. Megan holds a B.A. from the University of Colorado Boulder and an M.A. from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya) in Israel.
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