author
Bethnal Green Museum
A lively museum historian and curator, he wrote with real enthusiasm about toys, games, and the changing world of childhood. His work helps readers see Bethnal Green’s famous museum as both a collection of objects and a record of everyday family life.
1 Audiobook
A brief guide to the Food Collection
by Bethnal Green Museum
About the author
Anthony Burton is a British museum curator and writer best known for his long association with the V&A Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green. Sources describe him as a former director of the museum and an expert on the history of childhood, and listings for Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood identify him as the book’s author.
He worked at the museum from 1968 to 2002, including sixteen years as head of the Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green. That background gave him a close knowledge of the museum’s collections, and it shows in his writing, which connects toys, dolls, games, and children’s clothing with the broader social history of childhood.
Burton has also written more widely on museum and design history, including work on the Victoria and Albert Museum itself. In Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, he brings together the instincts of a curator and a storyteller, offering a clear, approachable guide to the museum and the objects that shaped children’s lives.