American Doll and Toy Museum
We will be adding photos, beginning with ancient dolls, as an annexe to the museum; visit us on Facebook, Dr. E's Doll Museum, and on Twitter @Dr. E's Doll Museum. We also have Facebook pages Doll Universe, Antique Doll, and Dr. R. We are on Flickr under Ellen Tsagaris, and ISSUU as Old Dolls. Our other Twitter account is Old Dolls. On Instagram, we are ellen_tsagaris. In keeping with our new non profit name, we've changed the name of this blog. All we need now is the building!!
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Friday, June 20, 2025
Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Over 400,00 Strong!!
From our Guest Blogger July/August 2025 Skyward by Dr. David Levy
Skyward for July 2025
By
Doveed.
David H. Levy
Of Minerva the telescope, Edward Fitzgerald’s translation
of The Rubáiyát
of Omar Khayyám of Naishápúr,
and Messier 40
Last month I sent some of you a photograph of Eureka, the
12-inch Dobsonian reflector that I claimed I now use for most of my comet
hunting. That statement, I am afraid, is
not entirely true. Since May 18, 1967, the day after I very nearly got expelled
from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for arguing with Miss Isabel
Williamson, its Director of Observational Activities, I have enjoyed and loved
this little 6-inch f/4 reflector for more than 58 years. Even though I have not found a comet with it,
I have used it to sight many known comets, and I must say that I use it for at
least half of my comet hunting. I was
using it while I was a student at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, where, in
Dr. Roger Lewis’s Victorian Literature class, I was introduced to The Rubáiyát
of Omar Khayyám.
Omar was a resident, probably the most famous resident, of
Nishapur, a city in northeastern Iran, and there exists a beautiful mausoleum
in his memory there. I concentrated on the first stanza only, and
it was well worth my trouble, and I add to it
the penultimate 100th stanza:
Wake! For the Sun, who scatter’d into flight
The stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along
with them from Heav’n, and strikes
The Sultán’s Turret with a Shaft of Light.
Yon rising Moon that looks for us again—
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane;
How oft hereafter will she look for us
Through this same Garden—and for one in vain!
At the time this poem’s tranasation appeared, interest in
science was at a height, especially with the appearance of Darwin’s The
Origin of Species in 1859, the same year as the Fitzgerald translation and
reinterpretation. Academically, this
poem attracted most of the members of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, though the
English population of the time thoroughly embraced the poem’s thought and
feeling. Even today, this poem
encourages many people to enjoy both the poem and the Sun, Moon, and stars that
it embraces.
A
few years before I began my time at Acadia, and before my near-expulsion, I was
completing my observations of Messier’s 109 object catalogue. “It was Messier’s
mistake,” Miss Williamson explained. “When
you locate the rest, we credit you with M40.”
I
saw Messier 40 the last three nights.
Messier himself found it in 1764 while searching for a nebula discovered
near Megrez, in Ursa Major, by Johannes Hevelius. Hevelius, who was not using a telescope,
noticed a touch of nebulosity. Messier
could not confirm this but he did record two faint stars. Today most us call M40 Messier’s mistake, but
I disagree with this. He probably
understood his friend’s naked eye view of the two stars, which even to him
could show some nebulosity, and left the pair in his catalogue. Could the pair look nebulous to us when
viewed without a telescope, just as groups of stars like the Beehive and
Pleiades look nebulous to today’s viewers when seen without a telescope?
To
find M40, simply locate Megrez and move a little more than one degree to its
northeast. There will be 70 Ursae Majoris. Continue another quarter degree to the two stars
that form Messier 40. Remember that this
is not a double star, but instead two stars at different distances from Earth.
Finally, Messier 40 offers a bonus.
Close to the east of the two stars lie two very nice spiral galaxies, NGC 4290
and NGC 4284. You need a very dark sky
to catch these, but they are lovely.
So what do Minerva, the The Rubáiyát,
and Messier 40 have in common? Nothing,
you might say. Minerva is a pile of
metal and glass loosely held together with glue and pressure. The Fitzgerald is a poem. Messier 40 is a mistake.
No.
Not at all. Minerva has given me
58 years of passion and pleasure being under the sky, whose rising Moon only
adds to the joy. And over centuries,
people like Charles Messier and Hevelius shared that same incredible craving
for the stars, including the tiny pair of distant suns collectively called
Messier 40.
Thursday, June 12, 2025
An Apologia for Countess Erzebet Bathory: Tribute to a Legendary Author
Monday, June 2, 2025
Only two dolls?
Recently, a major public figure voiced the opinion that no
child need more than one or two dolls.
We won’t get into politics, but I will note that dolls have been made in
this man’s image. In fact, he had his
own toy company that made plush animals for Macy’s.
Certainly, we doll collectors would take issue with the two
doll limit. I began collecting dolls at
age three, with two dolls that belonged to my grandmother starting the
collection. My whole life I have
collected them; today I run a nonprofit, established museum with over five
thousand dolls displayed. Many more
await our museum expansion.
True, we don’t play with them, but I didn’t play with them that
much as a child. Dolls were artifacts to be studied, cherished, curated and
displayed. Many great doll collections began
this way; they still exist in museums and private collections.
Dolls have also been recognized as educational tools for
centuries. G. Stanley Hall, father of American
psychology, writes of the dolls’ importance A Study of Dolls, which is
available free on Google books. In The
Doll Book by Laura Starr, 1908, the author notes that even during her time,
many cultures had disappeared. All that was
left of many was their dolls.
Dolls, and toys, have survived since antiquity. Some were ritual objects, some were tomb
figures, many were playthings. Dolls are
in many ways portraits of those who made them, and expressions of their beliefs
and opinions.
Dolls are among the oldest human artifacts, with tiny
goddess figures dating to Neanderthal civilizations . They are important, and they teach people
what life was like in the past. I could
write books on the subject; actually, I have.
As for me, I don’t know anyone who only had one doll, or toy
for that matter. I suggest Mr. Public Figure
read Baudelaire’s essay “A Philosophy of Toys.” This essay’s theme is the importance of toys
to children. Dolls are used today to
educate, study fashion, practice
medicine, provide comfort in therapy, and more.
Maybe next time, he should consult a few toy museums, like American Doll
and Toy Museum, or even his own children and grandchildren.
Friday, March 14, 2025
In Memoriam R.J. Wright
Several years ago, I had the honor to blog for R. John Wright. I'm posting one of those blogs here in his memory.
RJW DOLLS WITH ANIMALS-
Figures and Fauna by Ellen Tsagaris
Children know what adult collectors sometimes do not; that even dolls
have their companions, and that a beloved toy friend for a child can be an
animal.
R. John Wright has known the important link between dolls with animal
friends from the first dolls he designed. He also knows the importance of creating dolls
and animals that have literary histories.
Making beloved characters spring to 3D form makes them even more real to
children of all ages, from 1 to 100, who love them.
The earliest stories and books for children
highlighted the affinity between children and animals. At first, the animals were there to teach
children their alphabet, kindness to others, moral lessons, even responsibility. One of the earliest alphabet books dates
form the 17th century, and is called Comenius’s Orbis
sensualium pictus.
As paper became
cheaper, and people more literate, the market for children’s books opened
up. There were more of them in the 18th
century, and animals were characters; sometimes, they even acted like
people. Some stories came from ancient
tales and myths with their origins in Aesop’s Fables and Grimm’s Fairy
Tales. Others were written specifically
for children.
Many writers included
toy animals or real animals as companions to their characters, especially
Johnny Gruelle, a political cartoonist who created Raggedy Ann and Andy and
their stories a little over 100 years ago.
R. John Wright has created his own version of Raggedy Ann, but he has
also given us his interpretation of Raggedy Ann & Andy with his Camel With
the Wrinkled Knees and Raggedy Ann & Andy and the Little Brown Bear.
Bears are popular
characters in children’s stories, and the classic tale of Goldilocks is one of
the most famous. The original tale of
Goldilocks was written by Robert Southey, poet laureate of
In the charming
Wright version of “Goldilocks and The Three Bears”, a curly locked Goldilocks
looks sideways at the three bears, who are realistic bears, but who wear
charming embellished clothing.
Goldilocks knows she is being naughty, and the Bears are truly speechless
at her trespass. The set was originally
commissioned by the Puffin Publishing Group,
Other Wright bears
include 1988 - Patrick with Teddy Bear includes the first R. John Wright
bear. Patrick and Teddy are made of
molded felt. Patrick, with his winsome
face and mop of curly hair, is fully jointed. He was created in a limited
edition of 200. Two other favorites are Teddy
& Me, and Teddy Roosevelt with Cub. Anyone who collects bears knows the
story of how Teddy Roosevelt refused to take the life of an orphan bear cub
brought to him as a trophy. The origins
of the Teddy go back to Marguerite Steiff and Morris Michtom of the Ideal Toy
Corporation, with some evidence showing that toy bears may have actually sprung
up in
Of course, there is the most beloved literary bear of all, Winnie
the Pooh, which R.J Wright commemorated with a series of dols from 1986-89 - Christopher
Robin with Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga & Roo; A.A. Milne created a
true community of friends with the Pooh books.
The first Pooh book appeared in 1926, and the little boy protagonist was
names for Milne’s own son, Christopher Robin Milne. Young Christopher had toy
animals, including a bear named Winnie. Winnie was named after a female bear
that lived at the London Zoo. Pooh was a swan the Milnes had seen a family
vacation. When A. A. Milne wrote the Pooh books, included his son’s other toys,
Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga and Roo. The same characters were produced in
miniature in the 1990s as the "Pocket Series" with the addition of
Rabbit and Owl.
Certainly, though,
bears are not the only companions of children and dolls. Heidi with Snowflake
the Baby Goat is the R. John Wright version of a beloved childhood heroine. Heidi was written in 1881 by Swiss author
Johanna Spyri. The story of the little
girl who lived in the
Children love their
rabbit stories, but dogs are not only man’s best friend, they are also the best
friends of children and their dolls. Childhood stories are full of them,
including the brave Toto and the dogs in film that made everyone fall in love
with them, like Charlie Chaplin’s Scraps. Toto actually speaks in later Oz books, as do
other animals. The original Toto was a
cairn terrier named Terry, who lived to be 11 years old. She now has a permanent memorial to her in
the
R. John Wright’s
dolls from the Oz books by L. Frank Baum look as though they will come alive
and speak their lines. They also appear
as fairy tale mice characters, and are just as adorable. Dorothy and Toto
comprise one of the most famous dog-child couples in literature and film. Toto was a small terrier drawn by W.W.
Denslow. He was a constant sidekick of
the heroine of the Oz books, Dorothy Gale. Dorothy is an orphan living with an elderly
couple she calls her aunt and uncle.
They live on a bleak farm in
Charlie Chaplin with Scraps is one of the
newest Wright creations. They are superb portraits in felted material and take
doll making and cloth doll artistry to a new level. Chaplin had a rich and varied career in
Scraps is Chaplin’s
co-star in the silent film A Dog’s Life, 1918, where Scraps plays a hero. He helps Chaplin and the heroine of the film,
Edna, to escape all kinds of misadventures and to find a better life. Charlie and Edna care for scraps and hide him
when necessary to protect him. Scraps is
no particular breed, and has been titled, “a thorough bred mongrel.”
These are only some
of the wonderful doll groups R. John Wright has created from beloved character
in literature, popular culture, and film.
They teach a whole new generation about these wonderful characters and
their stories through another dimension, the 3D world of doll making. They belong in the finest libraries and
collections in the world, side- by- side with well loved editions of their
books and films that they honor.
Selected Bibliography
Aesop’s Fables. http://read.gov/aesop/
Animal Tales. https://www.bl.uk/animal-tales/articles/childrens-animal-tales
Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. (1900) .Millennium Books, 2017.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (1865), Illus. John Tenniel. The Planet, 2013.
Charlie Chaplin: A Dog’s Life. http://www.charliechaplin.com/en/films/12-A-Dog-s-Life/videos/1592-Charlie-Chaplin-saves-Scraps-from-a-wild-pack-of-dogs-from-A-Dog-s-Life-
Encyclopedia of the
Gordon, George, Lord Byron. Don Juan. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21700/21700-h/21700-h.htm
Gruelle, Johnny. Raggedy Ann Stories. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18190/18190-h/18190-h.htm
The History of Goldilocks. https://owlcation.com/humanities/goldilocks-and-three-bears
Orbis Senusalium Pictus. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/orbis-sensualium-pictus-animal-tales-space
R. John Wright-Collectible Dolls and Animals. http://www.rjohnwright.com/
Thursday, February 20, 2025
David Levy guest blogger Skyward March 2025
Skyward for March 2025.