Mechanical Musings; Early Automatons and Mechanical Dolls

 

Mechanical Musings; Early Automatons and Mechanical Dolls

 

When I wrote With Love from Tin Lizzie: A History of Metal Dolls . . . I said that the history of mechanical dolls went as far back as Ancient Egypt.  Yet, the history of all things mechanical, including dolls, toys and robots, really dates back around 3.3 million years.  That’s how old the first tools allegedly are.  Fire, discovered later , led to making better, stronger tools.  Somewhere along the line, the invention of the wheel made it possible to invent even better tools and machines.  Our automatons, robots, Mamma dolls and mechanical babies share this Stone Age heritage.

 

This thought came to me as I was working in our new, permanent museum building.  Many of the objects in the museum collection are mechanical.   The thing about hard, physical labor is that it gets one thinking.  I felt like an automaton myself most of this week, driving car loads of dolls, toys, books, and seasonal items to the new museum.  We had a terrible storm last Monday with 100 mph winds that lead to power outages, some still going on.

 

I spent most of the week working in darkness in the new building, with no AC, either.  We had power and AC in the old museum.  It was cool enough, and there was enough light coming through the windows.  The important job of moving and sorting is taking precedence over everything else.  Today there was a break, and we drove to the nearest university town, my husband to work, and me to wander.

 

We hope to be open by Halloween in our new, final location.  Barring that, I’m going for another Small Business Saturday Grand Opening.

 

One important object is a shadow box of a miniature doll museum, a box meant to make our wish come true.  Margaret Grace addresses the tradition in one of her miniature murder series, great reads one and all.  I hope there will be many more in the series.

 

So, we go on.  If you don’t hear from me, it is because I’m working very hard on the museum, and on my aunt’s estate.  We lost her suddenly in June, and nothing has been easy since.

 

Be safe, and to those affected by last week’s storms, I hope you are save, your property is intact, the tree limbs are cleared, and your power and cell phones are working again.

 

 

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Museum Musings

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Museum Musings:  Here are some notes to let you all know I'm still alive.  We had a death in the family in June, devastating and unexpected.  We lost my...

We’re no Doll Snobs

We’re no Doll Snobs

As we all continue to face Covid19 challenges and life challenges in general, we find ways to move on.  For us at American Doll & Toy Museum, it means literally moving to our new building, the former 30/31 Branch Library.

I admit I have my hands full; nothing moves as quickly as we’d like.  I’m paying more rent for the current building than I thought, but I don’t mind because I have great landlords and a good location.  The challenge is packing, and not having anywhere to stack boxes that are packed up.  I try to work them into the doll landscape, so to speak, but I’m open only by appointment now, till late summer or early fall when we’ll open our new larger location.

We've just suffered a devastating, unexpected death in our family, and I'm the trustee/executor for that situation, too.  Add slow banks, long distance, and estate bills up, and it would be a recipe for a nervous breakdown were it not for the doll museum and the hopes I have for it.

Dolls and toys seem to crawl out of the woodwork at home, but it’s a nice problem to have.  All this gives me time to look at the dolls and toys, and to ponder.  

It occurs to me that we do represent playthings from prehistory to now.  We have everything from the sublime to the ridiculous, and while we are probably not the largest doll collection in the world, we come close.  Dolls are humanities historians, as are the toys that reside with them.  We have examples representing Neanderthal goddess figures, to the current dolls on the market.  Many of our residents are museum pieces, but others are beloved examples from my childhood and my friends’ childhood.

We’ve had wonderful people donate their treasures to us for safekeeping; we don’t sell our donations, by the way.  What I sell in my Etsy store and in our modest gift shop are items I have made, or bought especially for the museum.  Their sale helps to keep us going.

We have kept the faith and a light on in our doll house windows, though we were forced to close nearly four months after we opened.  We will keep going.  This has been my dream and passion since age 4, can’t give up now.

I enjoy all kinds of dolls and toys.  I have always been eclectic in my taste, and the same is true of my collecting.   Every toy tells a story; a museum should represent all those stories, not just one.  We enjoy our French bisques and German characters, our 1860 rubber doll, our  Liberty of London Henry VIII and his wives, but we also love our Barbies, vintage to current, our Frozen Charlottes, our dime

store plastic babies from the sixties, homemade wrecks, well loved plush, and even Living Dead Dolls and My Little Pony friends.

Too many doll diva arias spoil the hobby.  It’s bad enough we have this creepy doll garbage floating around. We don’t have to do it to ourselves. I get turned off by hearing once too often that someone who collects dolls isn’t interested in other’s collections because they don’t collect that type of doll. You don’t have to own it to educate yourself in the hobby, or be aware of what others like.  

You don’t have to disrespect what someone else enjoys.  That’s just cruel.  If someone likes mid-century mass produced bisque dolls in frilly outfits, that’s his/her call.  If another collector likes Gene, or bean bag plush, or played with Barbies dressed in home made outfits, that also his/her call.   Were I forced to specialize, I would center on antiques, especially French fashion, metal heads, and international costume dolls, but it would be a hard choice.  

If I had too much of one type of doll or toy, I’d be bored.  I’d have what Helen Young, noted doll author and artist would call, an accumulation.  My dolls don’t bore me.  My toys and the books connected with them intrigue me.  

So, as we move forward, we hope to have stir happy childhood memories, and to share our collection with kids “from one to ninety two.”  We hope to teach about the cultures in our community, and about the cultures of all the people of the world.  We hope to inspire others to study and to collect, and we invite everyone to use our many books for their research, too.

Our admission will be modest, and will be waived for certain holidays.  We will also host programs, and classes on dolls and toys open to the public.  We will partner with other businesses and nonprofits, too. We are on GoFundMe should anyone care to donate. So, stay tuned, we’re just about to wind our music box up, and we plan to play a very long tune!!

The Dolls are Moving soon to their Forever Home!

The Dolls are Moving soon to their Forever Home!

It’s happening; the citizens of American Doll & Toy Museum are moving to their permanent home around late July 2020!  They’ve traveled a life time, but are getting ready for the journey to the former 30/31 library building.

Via WVIK

When I was little, I would ride my bike to this branch library. There was a soda machine, a popular draw, and it was across from my grade school, and later, my church.  My best friend lived down street, too.  As they say, location! Location! Location! We had a great time.  Both of us loved to read, and it was a great place to also see friends and neighbors.

During the summer, my mom and I were frequent visitors, checking out lots of books to read.  I looked up all kinds of books on dolls, dinosaurs, and Joan of Arc.

Shelves in our new Museum

One of the rooms in our new Museum

Main floor of the new Museum with shelves and study stations

Places for sitting and reading, as well as observing dolls

Room for programs and special events

More Shelves

Doors and safety

Little Kitchen

Panorama view of floor

We always washed off the plastic book covers with a paper towel slightly damp with soap and water.  We were ahead of our time.

My husband grew up nearby, and he also loved going to the library.  We could walk or ride bikes; it was a kid’s destination.

Today, American Doll & Toy Museum hopes to become a kid’s destination, again, for kids from 1 to 100!  We will also have books, including some of my beloved law books, formerly in our county law library.  Of course, I’ll have books and magazines on dolls, fiction and non fiction, as well as art books, craft books, books on countries and cultures where the dolls originate and more.

Miss Revlon and similar dolls

International dolls including Small World India in front of one of our houses

Celebrity dolls and toys

Micro-mini dolls under dome, a sushi dinner, more International, Barbie, and celebrity dolls

17th c. Historical doll, Scarlett, and more historical and celebrity dolls.
17th c. Doll by Marin of Spain,. formerly in Boca Raton
Children's Museum.

Georgie Fay, from Mikki Brantley, Ashton Drake Artist.  

One of our costumes

Minis, vintage tins, dolls from 20s to present in case behind

Robot with doll house

Father Tuck Paper Dolls

Vintage artist African American Doll

Vintage felt artist doll

Dolls being packed

While the books are not for check out, patrons can stay and read, and use the books on the premises as long as they like.  All for a very low admission price, with discounts for kids and seniors, and special days for Vets.

There will be days when admission will also be free, and programs that will benefit other non profits in our community.

Colleen Moore is not for sale, but the paper airplanes are

One of our board games

With love from Tin Lizzie; one of our metal heads

Artist dolls and modern bisques

Present location with patriotic window

Francesca and friends

For sale in our gift shop; see Dr. Es Toy Museum on Etsy.com

Our gift shop will also expand, with craft kits, books, doll related items, vintage jewelry, vintage toys, and more.

So, the antique dolls are packing their bags, including the china heads and antique bisques, the action figures and heroes are taking flight, Barbie is finding space for her dream house, and the toy soldiers are forming battalions.

Raggedy Ann, Shirley Temple, Patsy,  Tammy, Wendykins, Cissy, Jill and Ginny, G.I. Joe, Skippy, all the Ancient dolls, the International dolls, bears and stuffed animals are packing their bags.  Edith the Lonely doll arrived just in time for the move, and our French Fashion girls are gathering their trousseaux.

Our paper dolls, books, old cases, and doll clothes, our board games, marbles, jacks, model ships and paper airplanes are all getting ready to go.

We will miss our current location, and our dear friends in the neighborhood, but we are just up the street, and can do more for our community in this larger space.  We hope to continue to be part of the College Hill Association, too.

We’ll be open till July 1, by chance or appointment.  Please pardon are dust, as I continue to organize and to pack.  Call 309-721-9882 for an appointment.  Until we move, admission is discounted to $1 or free will donation.

In our gift shop; see Dr. Es Toy Museum.com

For sale in our gift shop

An example of the books for sale in our gift shop

Vintage miniature figure in our gift shop.  Great for doll houses.