Keith Warren Lauer, the curator of the National Plastic Center and Museum of Leominster, is a native of Marietta,Ohio. During WWII Lauer served as a combat infantryman with the 9th Infantry Division in Europe. After his combat service, he resumed his college education and in 1947 he graduated from MariettaCollege with a B.S. in business administration. Following his graduation, Keith became associated with the Barker-Davis Machine Co., Inc. of Leominster, Massachusetts.That business had long been associated with the plastics industry beginning in the era of natural plastics. Lauer was employed there for 39 years. During that time he became an owner and president of the company.

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Julie Pelletier Robinson lives in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and is the mother of four children. A native of Fayette, Maine, and long-time collector of antiques, in 1991 she enrolled at the Institute for the Study of Antiques and Collectibles in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. As a student, a required research paper began her involvement with celluloid. Julie is a member of the the American Plastics History Association. A freelance writer/photographer with a primary focuson nineteenth century antiques, and natural, semi-synthetic and synthetic plastics, Julie frequently lectures on the subject of celluloid and the natural materials which it imitated. She currently repairs damaged celluloid toys and may be reached by e-mail at [email protected]