Ruth Slifer Scrap Book II

I'm so glad to hear people are enjoying these pages from the Ruth Slifer Scrap Book. As I browse through its pages, I realize it is truly an ode to motherhood, babies, childhood, little girls and little boys and their dreams.  I should note that, on the title page posted yesterday, Ruth had carefully printed "Edited by Ruth L. Slifer."

 

Ruth Slifer Scrap Book

Ruth Slifer put this scrap book together c. 1914. (There's a picture of Woodrow Wilson in the book, a solid clue to the time period.) Two years ago at the convention, I found it for sale in Cynthia Wuthrich's room. These are pictures carefully cut out of popular magazines of the era, likely The Ladies Home Journal and perhaps The Delineator and Pictorial Review. I would guess Ruth spent a lot of time with her mother's help selecting and cutting the pictures for her scrap book.

 

Audrey Hepburn by Tom Tierney

 

 

 

Another free preview from Dover. And don't forget to check Tom's own website for many paper dolls you won't find anywhere else.

Drifting song sheet

1920 sheet music from the Duke Digital Archive.

A visit to Harriman, NY

Christmas always lingers at Paula and Blaine Hill's annual open house in Harriman, NY. It was a treat to visit the 1860 stone schoolhouse on Sunday, and marvel at her various collections and decorated Christmas trees (yes, that's plural).There was also a ton of food. It felt like an old-fashioned New Year's open house -- at least how I imagined that tradition was when it was more widely followed 100 years ago.

 

 

These photos don't convey the number of people who were there, the plates and dishes Paula made, or neighbors and friends brought over. You can catch a glimpse of the old house's many fascinating corners, and Paula's knack for decorating with her collections. 

 

Of course, we made our way downstairs to her first floor shop, and browsed cabinets, shelves and boxes of vintage scrap, paper dolls, paper toys, postcards and childrens books. Joan Burke and I found many interesting things.

 

Karen Ham and Carol Carey also found treasures. Paula had pantins of Santa Claus and other interesting prints on the wall.

 

This was my special find: a page of cut-outs, possibly British. Or German, perhaps?

Paper Dolls: A Group Exhibition in L.A.

Sneak preview here. If anyone has seen the show, which opened Thursday, I'd love to hear about it.

Vintage birthday greetings

What a lovely sentiment. A delicate illustration, quite ethereal, unusual for a son's birthday card. Not the usual dark, masculine sporty thing you usually see. From the Chester Thorpe scrapbook.

Corona Candy

From the Duke Digital Archive.

Glitter Fairy by Darcy May

 

 

Another free preview from Dover.

All-leather sandals

More from the 1951 Wards catalog: a colorful display of summer sandals. Most of the pages are black and white. And Wards is Montgomery Ward, of course (no apostrophe in catalog, maybe a misprint or just a style choice by the store).

Wards catalog, 1951

I've always been fond of peter pan collars. The print I'm not so sure about...

Trixie Belden paper dolls, 1958

 

 

More from the Random House web site: free paper dolls from the archives.

Golden Books

 

Thanks to Barbara Barnett and Margaret Brown for alerting us to the revival of these Golden Books paper dolls by Random House. I've seen the classic Golden Books rack at Borders, and wondered if they would ever get around to re-releasing the paper dolls, not just the vintage story books. Search the Random House kids catalog for paper dolls and you'll find several items of interest, old and new. (I've included links to the ordering page for each book described here.) Above, a 1952 paper doll book available now, for $4.99.

Beautiful Bride will come out May 11. Also $4.99.

 This Easter book, first published in the 1930s, will be available Jan. 26 for $6.99.

2010 Paper Doll Convention Update

Registration fee through March 15: $220

Registration fee after March 15: $245

Guest rate (meals only): $120 

Absentee (souvenirs only): $125

Includes 3 meals. And of course, all the other fun stuff we've come to expect at convention: 5+ paper doll souvenirs, workshops, programs, competition, artists' gallery, special exhibits, goody bags, sales room, surprises and the freebie table!

Make checks payable to Patricia O'Rourke

Mail to:

Patricia O'Rourke
6 Piccadilly Court

Toms River, NJ  08757

The Convention will run from Thursday, July 1 to Sunday, July 4, at the Embassy Suites Hotel - Plaza, 220 West 43rd Street, Kansas City, Missouri.

Reserve your room now by calling the hotel directly at 816-756-1720 and mention the paper doll  convention to get the special room rate $89 for a single, $109 for a double. (Use this direct line, not the 800 number, to be sure of getting the convention rate.)

Don't delay on reserving the hotel room. I've gone to many conventions where a handful of people were stuck at other hotels (at higher cost) because all the rooms at the host site were booked. There's no cost to cancel a room if you change your mind. And of course if you do go, you'll be assured of the special rate at the hotel where all the action will be taking place.   

 

Carnaval Paper Dolls by Tom Tierney

Just in time for next month's Mardi Gras: Tom Tierney's Carnaval Paper Dolls with glitter.

You can order it here. 

 

 

Ida Lupino paper dolls

Artist: Jim Howard. Available this year from Paper Studio Press.

Paper Doll Calendar for 1898

From the Houston Post, Dec. 26, 1897:

One of the season's novelties in calendars is called the paper doll. The doll is made of cardboard, cut carefully around in perfect shape. She wears four dresses to fit the seasons--one over the top of the other. Each dress has three calendar [months?]. The hair of the doll is cut around the shoulders and the dresses slip up and are held under the hair. The little coat on top, with the winter months, has the calendar fastened on the muff. When  December, January and February are past the dress is lifted off and the new dress is revealed. This is a little pale green robe dotted with violets, and the spring calendar is held by a fastening of violets. The third dress is of white lace trimmed with a wreath of pink roses; next comes the dress of bright plaid, with apron and slate, showing that school days have come with autumn. the dresses are tied on with a bright narrow ribbon. A broad piece of cardboard at the back makes the little girl stand up. If this is followed, be sure the winter coat is longer and fuller than the spring dress, so as to cover it, and the spring longer than the summer, and the school dress the smallest, so that none show from under. Frances Taylor  

 

Edie paper doll, 1913

A popular comic strip character of the era in paper doll form.The Tribune Junior Forum of the New York Tribune, Oct. 12, 1913. "Edie and Eddie, an Elephantasy" also includes a golliwog-type doll. A lot of people look on the golliwog fondly, but I find it disturbing. From Chronicling America.

Summer Clothes for the Boy Doll, 1909

From the Junior Call section of the San Francisco Call, April 17, 1909. The caption is rather strange, a jumble of out of sequence words, no doubt a misprint that escaped a copy editor's eye. The illustrator helpfully wrote "Bend Back" on the tabs!  Well, duh.

Here's how it looked on the page. From Chronicling America.

G.E.M. paper doll mystery

Tattered and Lost is trying to find out more about this set. No reference to it in the Mary Young guide of 20th Century paper dolls. Anyone have a clue?

Elsie Dinsmore paper doll, 1916

Back in June I wrote about the Chronicling America web site, where hundreds of newspapers are indexed and searchable. I was able to find one paper doll image. But for my Christmas card last month, my husband found and printed out a few more paper doll images. I'll post them here over the next few days. The images are not the sharpest, but they are a guide to treasures you might find in an old stack of newspapers at a flea market, estate sale or your own attic.  

For example, the paper doll above was part of an advertisement that ran in the University Missourian, February 22, 1916.

The Elsie Dinsmore paper dolls were given away with the purchase of an Elsie Dinsmore dress.  The dress at left, bottom in the picture shows birds circling her dress, as one hand holds a bird or butterfly aloft.

UPDATE: The pictures I post from Chronicling America are pdf files from the site itself, which I then converted to jpegs. Given that so many old newspapers were destroyed (and exist only as poor quality microfiche at most public libraries), it's good to see these better quality scans made available.     

One Lovely Blog Award

Many thanks to Serendipity Handmade for bestowing  the One Lovely Blog Award on The Paper Collector! Elsa Mora, whose paper dolls I featured here in 2008, was also a recipient. Be sure to visit Elsa's blog to see her latest artwork.  

If you are the recipient of the award, the only requirement is to post the award logo on your blog, with a link back to the blogger that awarded it to you, and then award it to other lovely blogs, and link to them as well.

Sounds good to me! As readers of this blog know, I'm always linking to blogs I like and that I think you'll like, too. There are other blogs I follow through Google Reader that I don't necessarily link to on this page, so here's my chance to spread the word. And the One Lovely Blog Awards go to:

The Daily Postcard is just that...and what a collection of postcards it is.

The "visual serendipity" of Millie Motts  includes vintage ads, photographs and other ephemera.

Leif Peng provides remarkable images and the history of American illustration mid-20th century at Today's Inspiration. Above: the work of Lowell Hess.

Tattered and Lost  features all kinds of ephemera from her vast collection and often delves into the history behind it, too.  

I first came across Jim Linderman in Folk Art Magazine, where his collection of hand-made paper dolls was featured prominently. Dull Tool Dim Bulb shows there's a lot more that fascinates him in the world of ephemera and photography.

I also love good writing. These two blogs are honestly and beautifully written about the day-to-day stuff of life, and some twists and turns ...

My Madeleine

The Villa Villekulla

A New Year begins

2010 is as fresh with promise as a new born babe.

At first I thought these were place cards, but they are scored to be folded and taped (or glued), and it appears to be a small cup or basket for a favor at a baby shower. A name could still be written on the back, I guess, so it could still be a place card.