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March 26, 2010
PRESS RELEASE

SPRING EXHIBITION
"A Brief History of Dolls"
TO OPEN AT THE SOUTHOLD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SOUTHOLD, NY.
The Southold Historical Society is pleased to announce
the opening of its spring exhibition, "A Brief
History of Dolls." The exhibition will open to the
public on Saturday, April 17, 2010 and
will run through Sunday, May 30, 2010.
"Our
founder, Ann Hallock Currie-Bell was a great lover of
dolls. She collected them her entire life, acquiring
numerous examples from local families to assemble her
collection," noted Geoffrey K. Fleming, Director of the
Society. "These dolls which are part of this exhibition
are just a few of the many different types included in
her extensive collection," noted Fleming.
We
don't know for sure, but dolls – or at least doll-like
objects – may go back to the beginnings of mankind
itself. The instinct to replicate ourselves in
miniature is strong, and the first materials for doing
so – wood, bone, and stone – would have been available
in most inhabited places from the outset.
Nuremberg, Germany, was an early toy center
where the names of doll makers, carefully controlled by
guilds, were listed in the city records as early as the
Fifteenth Century. The earliest dolls were of clay,
measuring between three and six inches and depicting
women in contemporary clothing (simply molded on). They
seem to have been given to girl babies at baptism.
Undoubtedly by this time too, poorer mothers and fathers
were making cloth and wooden dolls for their children to
enjoy, even though these dolls have not lasted to tell
the tale.
In
France, not surprisingly, the emphasis was on fashion.
The mannequin or “poupée modèle” was sent back and
forth amongst the aristocracy as early as 1391 to show
off the fashions of the day, some of which were
life-size. By the Eighteenth Century, such dolls were
being sent to America. Paper dolls arrived
earlier. They have been in existence since the late
1700s.
In
the Nineteenth Century, many cheap, wax German and
English dolls were made. Ironically, in many toy
centers, young girls were employed at extremely cheap
rates to help make them. These must have been children
who did not like dolls. Finer wax dolls were made as
well, with England the center. England continued to
favor wax doll heads well into the Twentieth Century.
These dolls’ failing were they could melt if held too
long close to warm bodies. Queen Victoria made her
contribution to doll fashion as to so many other
things. Several renowned wax doll makers made “Royal
Model Dolls,” copies of her nine children. There had
been baby dolls before, but this was their real
beginning.
Most
of us, when we think of antique dolls think of porcelain
dolls, the type (depending on your age) owned by your
mothers, grandmothers, or great grandmothers. But they
are relative newcomers, not appearing much before 1830.
These were dolls for children, but for well-to-do
children. Many were called “Sunday dolls,” dolls to be
brought out to be played with for only a few hours a
week, and that under adult supervision.
There were actually three types of porcelain: China
(glazed); Parian (white, unpainted bisque – meaning
unglazed porcelain); and painted bisque. Painted bisque
quickly forced out the other two because it looked so
much more like real skin, and continued to be produced
well into the Twentieth Century.
There were distinctive and successful doll makers in
America also, if somewhat later. Ludwig Greiner, a
German immigrant to Philadelphia, was issued the first
patent for doll making in1858. He made papier mâché
dolls similar to those manufactured in Germany earlier,
but they are easily identified by the cloth
reinforcements inside the heads. Joel A. H. Ellis, in
the unlikely location of Springfield, Vermont, created a rock maple
doll with splint joints at shoulder, elbow, thigh, and
knee (1873). Also in Philadelphia, Albert Schoenhut and
his six sons (from a German toy making family) formed a
successful doll firm, producing, among other things, the
famous Humpty Dumpty Circus (1903). Today all of these
dolls are sought after heavily.
While many styles of dolls are on display at the Society, a few very
early ones stand out. These include two wooden peg
dolls that date to just after the American Revolution.
They were made for members of the Horton family and date
to the 1780s. "These two dolls are a rare survival from
a period when home-made dolls were king," stated
Fleming. In addition to the dolls themselves, one of
the Society's many doll houses will also be on display.
This exhibition will run from Saturday, April 17th to
May 30th and will be open on Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4
pm and by appointment.
The
exhibition will be on display in the Mayne Gallery,
located in the Society's Ann Currie-Bell House at the
Museum Complex on the Corner of
Maple Lane and Main Road,
Southold. For
further information please contact the Southold
Historical Society at (631) 765-5500 or visit us on the
web at www.southoldhistoricalsociety.org. |