An Apologia for Countess Erzebet Bathory: Tribute to a Legendary Author

An Apologia for Countess Erzebet Bathory: Tribute to a Legendary Author:  Anne Rice Tribute   I first read Interview with the Vampire when I was sixteen.  Since then, I have taught Anne Rice, created courses ...

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.