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The Frost Play Research Collection was dedicated in the spring of 2004, with the goal of becoming the largest children’s play and play environments research collection in the United States. A board composed of UIW faculty and other advisors oversees the direction and development of the collection.

The collection of teacher, researcher, and author, Dr. Joe L. Frost included materials from his extensive research library, Dr. Frost’s correspondence, manuscripts and other items related to his research and work in the field of play, and hundreds of photographs dealing with children’s play gathered by Dr. Frost.

Dr. Frost has authored or co-authored 18 books, several having been translated into other languages, as well as six volumes of original papers, reports and articles. Dr. Frost has also served as editor for many texts. He is known all over the world for his more than 30 years of work on early childhood and children’s play environments. He has also served as a consultant for playgrounds worldwide and is a past president of both the Association for Childhood Education International and International Play Association/USA.

Frost’s culminating work, A History of Children’s Play and Play, was published in New York and London by Routledge Publishers in 2010.

Children’s play throughout history has been free, spontaneous, and intertwined with work, set in the playgrounds of the fields, streams, and barnyards. Children in cities enjoyed similar forms of play but their playgrounds were the vacant lands and parks. Today, children have become increasingly inactive, abandoning traditional outdoor play for sedentary, indoor cyber play and poor diets. The consequences of play deprivation, the elimination and diminution of recess, and the abandonment of outdoor play are fundamental issues in a growing crisis that threatens the health, development, and welfare of children.