The
curator of the museum is Arlene Wagner. Wagner (born 1925) founded the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum with her husband George in 1995, as a
non-profit organization. Wagner had previously worked as a
ballet instructor, and supervised productions of
The Nutcracker. The museum's website notes, "just as Clara in the ballet became entranced with the wooden figure with the big teeth, so did Arlene." The museum was featured on the
NBC program
Today in 2000. Arlene and George Wagner ceded their collection in 2001 to the
National Heritage Foundation so that the museum would be maintained in the event of their deaths; however Arlene Wagner retained her position within the museum.
David Evangelista favorably reviewed the museum in a piece for an
A&E Network special in 2003. In 2003, the museum had a collection of 3,028 artifacts. By 2007 the collection had grown to over 5,000 pieces. Nutcrackers are represented in the museum from 38 different countries. The museum contains the greatest amount of collected nutcrackers in the United States, including a nutcracker named Karl made in
Germany that stands six feet tall. Wagner bought the item from Rik Gijsen, a
Netherlands-based
antiquities dealer. The piece was acquired by the museum in April 2006. Approximately 1,000 of the nutcrackers from the museum are highlighted in a book by Wagner,
The Art and Character of Nutcrackers. In December 2009, Wagner and her museum were featured on the "Sunday Morning" program of
CBS News. Judith Hole, a
CBS News producer, discovered the museum through an online search, and got in touch with the curator for further research on the news piece. Journalist Rita Braver of
CBS interviewed Wagner about the museum. On his website, O'Brien had arranged an online survey of potential first guests with Wagner being listed on the website among candidates including
Jack Nicholson,
Pope Benedict XVI,
Justin Bieber,
Lady Gaga,
Vladimir Putin, and the
Sultan of Brunei. During the poll, O'Brien posted to his
Twitter account, "If the Nutcracker lady wins, I'm in trouble." In an interview with
KING-TV, Wagner replied, "Why would he be in trouble? I think I should do just fine on his show." She noted the production staff of
Conan had contacted her, "They just called us out of the blue." She explained, "Many people think nutcrackers are just for Christmas, but they're not." Wagner stated she intended to present O'Brien with a gift of an
Irish nutcracker from her collection. ==Reception==