Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Wings, Blimps, Respect is spelled D-O-L-L-S!!

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Wings, Blimps, Respect is spelled D-O-L-L-S!!: One of my all time favorite television shows is Wings, the story of two brothers running a small airport on Nantucket Island .   The char...

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Jeopardy James; Skyward June 2019 by Guest Blogger...

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Jeopardy James; Skyward June 2019 by Guest Blogger...: Another wonderful post! On April 23, 2019 I took this picture of a bright Lyrid meteor falling in the sky north of our Jarnac Observator...

World Doll Day 2019 – The State of the Doll House

World Doll Day 2019 – The State of the Doll House

World Doll Day is fast approaching; do you know where your dolls are?  LOL!  Seriously, it is time to take stock of what dolls mean to us.  Dolls are the perhaps the oldest toy, and according to some, the oldest cultural artifact.  Sadly, I may argue that the weapon comes before that, but let’s stick with happier topics and say it is at least one of the world’s oldest cultural artifacts.

Max von Boehn and others traced the earliest doll like figure or statue to the Venus or Goddess figures found in Willendorf and elsewhere, and the oldest was approximately 40,000 years old.  Yet, older figures, dating to the Neanderthals, are surfacing in Israel and elsewhere.   In some ways, I will argue that the definition of what a doll is goes back with what the definition of what a human being is.  When I taught humanities, I found materials that stated the oldest common human mammal ancestor dated back 53 million years.  Keep in mind; I am not trying to teach anthropology or archaeology here, just getting us all to think.

Certainly, play is important to animals.  Animals also “collect”; magpies and pack rats being the most common examples, but read the most excellent tome, The Scavengers Manifesto to learn more about animal collecting behavior.

We know our pets have toys, and love to play.  My late cat Emma had her own doll and toy collection; all of the toys had the last name of “Mouse.”  Opie kitty, who lived to be around 24 years old, loved a plush cow doll, a Victorian doll bed, and a large Muppet Animal doll.  His “sibling” Dax, had his own love for catnip toys and beanie babies.  My dogs, Killer and Smokey, had their own dolls, a black plush dog, a love of squeaky toys, and white teddy bears.  Once, when we were laying out on my bed and admiring our recent doll show loot, Killer, a tiny scotty/poodle mix, hopped in the middle of my bed with his squeaky monkey in his mouth.  My mom and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Smokey, my Benji dog, loved to sleep with a silk screened T-Rex.  He would be sound asleep, but I guess could sense me coming with it. He would lift his little head, and I would slip Dinosaur under it.  He also had a white bear with a worn nose that he loved.

My two kitties currently love toys, and literally skip when they see me coming with new ones.  The little girl cat loves doll houses; she likes to get on her hind legs, balance on one paw, and “select” toys to play with using her other paw.  I had to give her a doll house rug to appease her.

Birds, fish, reptiles, guinea pigs, all pet rodents, zoo animals, even birds of prey, have their games and toys.

So, play and toys seem to be essential to practically every life form.

Humans are no exception.

Dolls and statuary, figural drawings, all survive from Prehistory and the Ancient World and thereby attest to their importance.  Surviving examples of Santos, crèche figures, tomb figures, fashion dolls, even painted images and early paper figures exist or are described in many texts.  The shadow puppets Plato made famous in his Parable of the Cave “live” in museums in Greece, and in books by authors like my friend, the late Mary Hillier (Dolls and Dollmakers).

Anne Rice, once and avid collector, has written them into her gripping novels in all genres, and stated that when you love the worlds’ people, you loved their dolls.  Of course; dolls are portraits one way or another of their makers, good, bad, and ugly.   Lost civilizations live on because we have their dolls and toys.  Doll houses inspire artists, writers, and set designers, and show us how people lived in the past.  They are the best living history lesson I can think of.

Some dolls fight crime, like Frances Glessner Lee’s Nutshell doll house shadow boxes of unexplained death.  She had a hand in inspiring CSI’s Miniature Killer, too. 

Look at it this way, as collectors, doll artists, doll makers, doll retailers, dealers, museum curators, etc., we have a collective mission to promote the preservation of dolls, toys, doll houses and related objects for future generations.  While certain dolls continue to be a good investment, money does not motivate true collectors; at least that’s my opinion.  Kids seem to be getting away from dolls, toys, and collecting in general, and the creepy doll garbage pop culture phenomenon isn’t helping.  I see a few glimmers of hope on our Virtual Doll Convention page, young people interested in dolls.

Let’s face it, dolls are historical icons, that do indeed tell our story.  They are our texts and literature of who we are, and they teach us many things.  Hurting a doll, well, there is a certain voodoo aspect to it, and it chills us to the bone.

Kudos to the terrific social media sites featuring dolls, and to the many museums out there that foster them.  Don’t be afraid to make future plans for your dolls for when you go to the great doll house in the sky, and remember, no one judges what those plans are.  Just so they don’t end up in a dumpster!  As for me, I am getting closer to finding a building for the museum of dolls that has been my life long passion, and I continue to write books about them.  One is at the publisher, another is in proposal form.  Thanks to all for your contributions of Facebook, Kickstarter, and for your donations.

Happy World Doll Day!  Perhaps you could share with us a few words about what dolls mean to you, as well a photo or two!

Collect in peace and good health! Happy World Doll Day!

1940s Exhibit at North Carolina Doll Museum of Dolls, Toys, & Miniatures

Holocaust Essay Contest; Holocaust Education Committee

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Barbie's 60th, Dolls and Microsurgery and More

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Barbie's 60th, Dolls and Microsurgery and More: For Barbie's 60th, I bought the pilot Barbie; I just took a round-trip jaunt cross country, not for fun, for family business.  It seemed...

16 Little Flowers

The birds are building their nest in the customary place below my garage gutters, and I'm seeing tiny rabbits, and does sitting in my yard.  Spring must be here, so it's time to plant.  I started work on my pots and fairy gardens; here is what I have done so far.

I'm also trying to nurse a small monarch butterfly back to health, with to dark purple flowers, one from a butterfly bush, and a capful of canned fruit nectar.  Poor thing; I found it on the curb at a truck stop yesterday.  It was moving it's little feet, and was able to flip over; don't know if she can fly yet.

I couldn't bear to leave her.  I've saved a Polyphemus moth before, and other butterflies and insects, the occasional spider.  Once a baby bird and another time a baby mouse.  One year, we fostered two  nests of baby rabbits that made it.  You never know.

In honor of my mom who loved frogs.

This deep red marigold may stave off pests, too.

The Garden Witch begins her reign

Miniatures houses, dolls, and animals live in the fairy gardens

As for everything else, frustration and rain are killing me.  I don't know where it was written that I became all things to all people.  I can't even get a quiet morning to start the day; so called care givers are more care causers.  I'm sorry; but this is an industry profiting from others' misery if not done right.  I've cared now for my entire family, for years on end.  I traveled cross country, and dealt with one idiot after another.  It doesn't end.  I have cable and security companies that won't cancel accounts, medical frauds sending equipment no one ordered, people taking advantage of elderly people right and left.  I keep hitting my hand, and the farm and fleet worker who crushed my hand on her way into the bathroom is to be commended; it sill hurts.  I type for most of my living.  Do the math.

My mother, my dad, her youngest brother, my baby sister, should all be here to do this; not me.  I'm worn out, as Pym would say, cumbered with much serving.

I have news, folks.  My life is dwindling away.  Who will do the grunt work without me.  Who will pay the family members who want an income and reimbursement for each kindness, each tiny thing they do that I have done for years, as if we were strangers?    My parents didn't ask for anything when they took care of them, and when they had to pick out everyone else's coffins.  I haven't asked for it, and it takes a terrible toll on me. go figure.

I will try to stop griping, but I'm not well, either, and this museum needs a building, and I have books to write, and my own family.

With spring and with flowers and tiny animals come hope.  Maybe there is some for me.