American Doll and Toy Museum: World Doll Day 2019

Monday, June 3, 2019

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

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, 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.