Tisane des Chartreux de Durbon

A trade card for an herbal tea that features a scene from Uncle Tom's Cabin, and a cut-out of a monk. Apparently, chartreuse liqueur was originally made by Carthusian monks in France. You can read more about it here.

Red hat lady, c. 1880s

Vintage scrap

Hallmark Walking Doll, c. 1971

This illustration style was popular in the early 1970s, and takes me back to high school days, and birthday cards, invitations and pretty boxes of stationery.

Patty and Selma paper dolls

Bongo Comics, 1994.

Colleen of Ireland

Dolls of Many Lands, Whitman, 1932. I posted this doll five years ago, on an earlier blog. It's a favorite set. I like the 1930s style of illustration, something about the quality of the line, patterns and color combinations.

Dublin Bridge Tally, 1926

People were mad for bridge in the 1920s. This comic tally was part of the Chester Thorpe scrapbook that I found a few years back, full of bridge tallys and other ephemera, and documenting the social life and travel of Chester and Carrie Thorpe.

I like the "We"- "They" division of players. This is a newsprint quality slip of paper, and it has held together well over the last 9 decades.

It is dated 3/20/26. The hat and shamrock are glued on tight. But you can still see the caption for the cartoon: "Bridge is such a simple game-- You don't have to remember what cards are out--I like to play solitaire -- It's so scientific!" says the lady with the cards, as her friends look at her in amazement. You can see in pencil "C. E. Thorpe," and "Mrs. Blaisdell" near the illustration.

Sanford Trimming trade card, c. 1920s

This is a small 2 x 5 inch slip of paper, not quite card stock but sturdier than plain paper. This might have been a salesman's handout in a retail fabric store, in the days when clothing was mostly home-made.

Morgantown Paper Doll Luncheon

Join us for the 2013 Morgantown Paper Doll Luncheon on Saturday, April 20, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Morgantown Holiday Inn in Pennsylvania. Our theme is Morgantown Abbey, a wink to one of our favorite shows. The fee for the day, including luncheon, is $35. If you're staying overnight Friday or Saturday, the room rate is $78. There's no extra charge for a sales table. We'll have raffles and freebies, too. And goodie bags, of course. I hope you'll join us.

If you're a regular attendee and haven't received your invitation, or if you've never attended and would like to join us for the first time, just click these two links for the pdf files:

The invitation.

The reply slip.

If you have any problems opening either file, contact me at linda(at)geb(dot)net

Reservations must be received by April 10. 

Sheryl Jaeger and I are taking care of the logistics of planning, but Jayne Keller is guiding us every step of the way. And lucky for us, she is still doing the Dress- A- Doll portion of the luncheon. 

When you open the invitation file (PDF), you'll find this doll in exactly the right size to dress. People who are not attending may also submit costumes for this doll -- be sure to read the instructions in the invitation. As at every luncheon, there will be a drawing for the doll and her costumes, but only those who submitted costumes can enter. Deadline to submit costumes is April 16.

And just for good measure, here are those two important links once again:


The invitation.

The reply slip.

Birthday elves card, c. 1950s

Marked on back: "MIA" Cards. Printed in England.

Catalog doll #3, 1940s

The last of the set.

Catalog doll #2, 1940s

I like the way the dolls and clothes were carefully numbered.

Catalog doll #1, 1940s

Paper doll cut from catalog. Dresses might not be perfect fit, but that's part of the charm of finding these homemade, make-do paper dolls.

Hello I'm Adeline, 1944

A charming book by Frida Sarsen-Bucky, illustrated by Erika Weihs, published by the Animated Book Company in 1944. The book is a reminiscence of a favorite doll, and includes original music and lyrics composed by the author, 10 songs in all with piano accompaniment. Sarsen-Bucky also produced a children's album for Folkways in 1963 starring Marian Anderson: "Snoopycat, the Adventures of Marian Anderson's Cat Snoopy." Yes, the African-American contralto who sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 when she was denied permission to sing at Constitution Hall. You can see the album here. 

Sarsen-Bucky was profiled in "German Children's and Youth Literature in Exile: 1933-1950," which I found when I Googled the author's name. According to the reference work, "Adeline" was a bestseller, with 150,000 copies sold, was recorded by RCA records, and was broadcast and rebroadcast on children's radio for several years. Sarsen-Bucky also wrote words and music for a recording about Fala, FDR's dog. In 1944, President Roosevelt personally read and approved the manuscript for the record album, "Fala," which came out in 1946, after the president died. In 1967, Sarsen-Bucky, then 85, wrote a memoir about Albert Einstein. She died in 1974 in New York City.

The artis Erika Weihs is also in the German exiles reference book. She worked for a greeting card company, and began illustrating children's books in 1942. She has illustrated some 60 books, but also did oil painting and collage, and was creating art well into her 80s. Weihs' artwork has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum, and her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of the City of New York, among other places. You can see her paintings here. Weihs died in 2010 at the age of 92.

Weihs' illustrations are absolutely charming. I found this book with doll and clothing already cut-out. It would have been hard to resist doing it myself. The doll is a sturdy fiberboard type and the clothes are cardstock.