Community
History of dolls topic for Questers
POSTED: March 14, 2009
The OH/WV Sternwheelers Chapter of Questers met at the home of Shirley Guida, with Sharon Mieczkowski as cohostess. She presided over the business meeting and turned the program over to Connie Freshour who spoke on “The History of Dolls,” toys that have been a part of humankind since pre-historic times.
Used to depict religious figures or playthings, early dolls were made from clay, fur or wood. None have survived this period.
Dolls made of flat pieces of painted wood, with hair of wooden beads have been found in Egyptian graves, dating back to 2000 BC. Tombs of wealthy families have included pottery dolls.
Dolls were buried in Greek and Roman childrens’ graves. Most ancient dolls found in children’s tombs were simple creations, made from clay, rags, wood or bone. More unique ones were made from ivory or wax.
Wanting to make them lifelike, led to making dolls with moveable limbs and removable garments dating back to 600 BC.
Europe became a hub for wooden doll production. Less than 30 wooden stump dolls from England survive today from the 16th and 17th centuries.
Doctor dolls, not toys, were used for teaching anatomy in medical schools throughout Europe from 1500 to 1800. No one was allowed to probe into bodies of the deceased to find the cause of death.
Medicine ladies dolls were used in China, as ladies of high birth owned their own version of doctor dolls.
Being modest, they sent a servant to the doctor with their doll, marked where the pain was. From that diagnosis, a prescription was written for medicine.
Before World War I, realistic dolls began to appear such as Byelo Baby, Bubbles, Dydee Doll and Patsy. Madame Alexander made the very finest dolls.
Mattel made Barbie in 1959. Her clothing has reflected current styles. Now she has 4,000 pair of shoes, 1,000 handbags and nine designers working full time on her clothes. Mattel has used 75 million yards of fabric for her costumes. Someone purchases a Barbie every two seconds.
Members brought childhood dolls, such as an original Barbie in swimsuit with original clothes and suitcase; Girl Scout doll; Shirley Temple; pillowcase doll; two Madame Alexander dolls; a 65-year-old Sonja Henie doll in skating costume; and a Sleeping Beauty doll.
The next meeting will be March 24 at Freshours, with Cathy Cooper giving the history on cookbooks. Kay Kempler will be cohostess.
Share:
Facebook
MySpace
Digg
Stumble
Mixx
Fark
del.icio.us
LiveSpaces