Happy Fall, finally, though it has been unseasonably
warm. Rain today is more de rigueur, and
the temps will begin to fall midweek.
It’s a quiet week for us; no appointments that I know of, just house
cleaning and museum work.
We have had a great three weeks of visits; we are open
Saturday at 11. General admission is
5.00 per person, but 4.00 for seniors, 1.00 for kids twelve and other. Our visiting children have been not only well
behaved and cooperative, but also curious and enthusiastic. They ask very intelligent questions, and are
very pleased with our Story
Mountain. When I clean the glass, I see the imprints of
little hands pressed up against the glass, which means they really, really like
it!
I find that while our antiques attract many appreciative
glances, the real stars for our visitors are the Barbies, the Polly Pockets
display, our bears, our plush characters like Tweety, Mickey Mouse, and
Sylvester, our Statler and Waldorf figures, Story Mountain,
and our robots. They evoke memories of
favorite childhood toys, family trips, childhood memories, and all around good
times. Many visitors are also interested
in toys and dolls portrayed in books.
Our extensive library attracts a lot of attention. Those who want to use our books are free to
do so without paying admission. Those
who do pay admission can stay all day.
We have comfortable chairs donated by The Planetary Studies Foundation,
who also provided most of our glass cases, and great recliners gifted to us by
the library.
We are non profit, and very grateful for donations given to
us. At this point, we don’t buy dolls or
toys. In the rare instance that we do,
we have to go through our Board of Directors.
As a non profit, we live on donations, and need them to maintain our
building grounds, which are kept beautiful thanks to J. Cooper of CMS Snow, who
is also a generous donor and good friend to us.
Thanks to all of our generous donors and patrons. We do sell memberships to the museum,
beginning at 25.00 for an individual.
Please contact us at ellentsagaris@gmail.com
for more information.
On other dolly fronts, I attended a doll how last week, but
did not set up. I received My Little
Pony and Polly Pockets donations, and purchased beautiful art dolls of Tad Lincoln and Alice Roosevelt, nice
editions to our presidential case which includes a doll owned by Fanny Hayes,
Rutherford B. Hayes’ daughter, and a George III wooden.
I finished the first draft of another book, which took 17
years to complete, and began preliminaries on another. One is law related, but don’t be surprised if
a doll doesn’t pop up. The other deals
primarily with jewelry and personal adornment.
I also dusted off a novel set in Henry VIII’s England and the present day.
For photos of things we love, check out, please, our many
Pinterest Boards, two sets, under my name.
Also, I have done a lot of pinning for others, especially under Ruby Lane dolls.
Unfortunately, not all of our friends are happy for us. A pen pal of long standing, who is also an
artist, collector, author and dealer, has been writing me letters containing a
series of derogatory comments. He also
tries to take credit for what little victories we’ve had writing and
publishing. The latest was his declaration
that his dolls, really huge mannikins of long forgotten silent movie stars,
really need to go to a museum, but not one that has Barbie, CPKs, vinyl dolls,
tourist dolls, or other dolls he considers to be
“trash”. He wants a museum run by
educated people, in place to educate people about dolls like his.
I’m going to wish him luck in my next letter. Some of us mellow with age, but others, well,
can get mean and enjoy undermining others.
I try to stay away from negativity, and I try to lift his spirits to no
avail. He still works at writing, and is
in good physical shape. But everything
else is criticism, doom, and gloom. I
feel sorry for him. I have sent him
little gifts of lace, trims, books, once a VCR and they all fall short. He takes comfort in his animals, and is
taking care of a wounded bird, so there is kindness in his nature, but I don’t
handle nay saying very well.
The last six years or so have been misery and hell, with six
deaths in my family, and many others of my friends. Some on the same day. I dread November. Before that, I lost my mother, perhaps the
worst of all, dealt with all kinds of my health issues, my husband’s, a
difficult and toxic workplace, and many disappointments, lost of pets, and
other professional blows. I managed to get six books published, some eBooks,
won a couple poetry prizes, found antique dolls of my dreams, and reconnected
with grade school friends and distant cousins.
I dealt with my dad’s family in Europe,
who isn’t easy to deal with, and somehow, I heard my mother saying to keep
going, to move on.
What I got was this museum.
It is 24/7 work, but our mission is to preserve, curate, and
educate. There are not many toy and
doll museums left; I was reading about Shankar’s International
Doll Museum
in New Delhi, India, and learned that Nehru and
his daughter, Indira Gandhi, were instrumental in getting the museum
started. Now I must look for the Peggy
Nisbet portrait of her. The museum has around
7000 dolls from all over the world, including some Nehru gave. Some are “tourist dolls.” The Strong National Museum of Play has
similar tourist and souvenir items, as did the Museo de las Americas in Madrid, and the Indianapolis Children’s
Museum.
The Greek tourist dolls began my collection. My mother’s family brought them from trips
all over the world, after they came home safely from WWII, where they were
trapped for 8 years in Greece. When they returned, they pretty much ahd
nothing, and their family here thought they were dead. Their souvenirs were an affirmation of life,
and those dolls and other artifacts are
now safe with us, testament to my family.
In many ways, the museum is a love letter to my family. I also have given homes to dolls beloved of
others in my community. Mrs. Irene
Robinson, one of our donors, passed away recently. Her dolls are lovely porcelain collectibles
from the 80s and 90s. She loved them,
and was very happy her dolls were with us.
Even these modern porcelains that many doll divas sneer at, have a place
in doll history. Their owners loved
them, too, and want them to last for prosperity. We do not sell our donations, and we rotate
our doll displays, so these and other loved, even bedraggled dolls are safe
with us.
Please visit our various Social Media, some under my
name. Please contact us with
questions. We’d love to hear your doll
stories. If you love miniatures,
literature, French and German antiques, artist dolls, vintage dolls, Barbie,
plush, models, Little Lulu, Buster Brown, comics, John Deere, political
memorabilia, and international dolls and more, we’re your place. Come visit our “doll house” complete with
gift shop and library, housed in a historic former library and firehouse,
surrounded by native plants, trees, and beautiful flowers!
