Sunday, December 31, 2023

Tillie the Toiler paper doll, Feb. 1933


I think Tillie has the perfect outfit for New Year's Eve--and the morning after. 

That's Mac's profile peeking out on the turtleneck. Well, she could have had his face embroidered onto the sweater, I guess.

These fashion designs are 90 years old, but they would pass muster today!




Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Baby Bunting, an Oilette postcard


This is a reproduction of an Oilette postcard.
 
Oilettes were introduced by Raphael Tuck in 1903, but this postcard looks more like the teens or the twenties. Illustrated by M.E. Banks.

 

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Happy Holidays Sticker Snowman paper doll, Hallmark


 My friend Anita sent me this one, and I knew I had to scan it in so I can play with it. I'm guessing this came out fairly recently. 

It's marked "Hallmark Cares," indicating a card made from "well-managed forests."

Thursday, December 21, 2023

"Winter Joys," Hood's Sarsaparilla 1918 calendar

 


A lovely illustration from 105 years ago to mark the winter solstice. 

The back shows the item was cut some time ago; the months of June and December are missing. I love reading the grandiose statements of early advertising, and Hood's does not disappoint! 

I'll take the Peptiron, Dys-pep-lets and the tooth powder.



Sunday, December 17, 2023

Jen, a Christmas Cutie paper doll, Carlton Cards, ca. 1995

 


Her name is "Jen."

This lovely card sold for $3.59! You got a lot for a little money: It is nicely drawn and doesn't skimp on accessories; love the Christmas tree on the last page.

The Paper Doll Greeting Cards reference work that Fran Bornman put together some years ago helped me date this card to circa 1995.








Friday, December 15, 2023

Christmas stockings, 1925


These rosy cheeks remind me of a paper doll artist whose name I can't recall...



Poor Miss Margaret! What a Christmas message. This was hand-delivered, I guess, since there is no postage stamp, just two "Cinderella Stamps" dated 1925, with the American Lung Association logo.

 

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Lots of fun at Christmas time, 1920



 A fine bit of mayhem for a Christmas card! 


Nice Cinderella stamp marks this as a 1920 missive. 
As best as I can make out, this is the text:

Dear Cousin
Dear Jake

How are you
I  am well and hope you are the same
on this card this is Jake and his wife 
having lot of fun on Christmas morning
well goodby Ha Ha
wash you a marry Christmas from 
Gladys Nicholas



Monday, December 11, 2023

Fröhliche Weihnachten, postcard ca. 1930s


Translation: Merry Christmas

German, ca. 1930s

The reverse shows a stamp marked German Reich, with a von Hindenburg medallion. Lots of German text, but I can't imagine it was anything but personal, family news in that era to get safely through the mail. But if anyone knows German, I would love to know if my guess is accurate.



Wednesday, December 6, 2023

"Congresswoman Barbara Lee Speaks to Me," paper doll, 2023

 


I love collecting paper dolls of historical figures--past and present. So, when I heard that writer Arabella Grayson and artist Bruce Patrick Jones had teamed up for a paper doll book of Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), I knew I had to have it. The book--a folio of 12 unbound pages--is a lovely tribute to a trailblazer.

"Congresswoman Barbara Lee Speaks to Me," immerses the reader in the life and times of the congresswoman who has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1998. The folio features a six-and-a-half inch doll and 11 outfits.



Rep. Lee has become a beacon of progressive leadership on issues such as racial equity, women's rights, climate change, restorative justice, gun control, LGBQT rights and more. She's also running for the U.S. Senate seat once occupied by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died in September. Although the book's release coincides with Rep. Lee's run for the U.S. Senate, it is independent of her campaign.

Arabella Grayson, a journalist, has compiled a timeline of Lee's life and career interspersed with inspirational quotes from the congresswoman's speeches and writing.


"Why Barbara Lee?" Grayson wrote recently. "I used to live in her district in the San Francisco Bay Area. We're both Mills College alums, graduating when it was still a women's college. We attended the same church. She's a staunch advocate for children's, women's and workers' rights."


Grayson curates "Two Hundred Years of Black Paper Dolls," containing more than 100 Black paper dolls from her collection for a touring exhibit that has traveled to The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles and the Mills College F.W. Olin Library. She earned a master's degree in liberal studies from Mills College and holds an undergraduate degree in public relations from San Jose State University. She studied acting at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. A talented writer and award-winning photographer, her work has appeared in numerous, books, magazines and newspapers. She is a contributing writer to Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady (SUNY Press, 2009).

Bruce Patrick Jones is a longtime illustrator and paper doll artist, well known and beloved in the paper doll community. His exquisite illustrations have made his paper doll books highly collectible.