Comments on: Vintage (and creepy) dolls, Brooklyn, Michigan, June 2009

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:57:17 +0000

Sorry, Dee–this one absolutely was a Kewpie doll.

I’m familiar with the use of dolls in convents that you note. It actually goes back at least to the 18th century. Dolls in tiny habits were used to illustrate the proper order and wearing of garments in various women’s religious orders, sent by the mother house to ensure that all nuns of that order were dressed identically.

By: Dee

Dee — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:10:44 +0000

The nun doll is not a kewpie doll as stated. And years ago it was not uncommon for dolls to be given to the nuns in convents and they were dressed by them as nun dolls. There were companies back in the 50′s that produced nun dolls but somehow that hand made ones seem to hold a lot more charm.

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 05:20:46 +0000

Don’t you like dolls?

By: Violence against dolls and women : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:56:24 +0000

[...] might remember that during my visit to Michigan last June, I stumbled upon a lot of dolls–in antique shops, and in museums. Well, I almost literally stumbled over this one yesterday as I was out for my [...]

By: Christmas wrap-up and orange alert, 2009 : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:11:24 +0000

[...] an occasional nip of bourbon. The local antique mall here is a gold mine–it’s the same place I found all of those dolls last summer. A few years back I found the two-volume translation of Lafitau’s Customs of the American [...]

By: Historiann

Historiann — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:29:29 +0000

barb–if you send me some links to the French info I can try to translate them for you.

By: barb groff

barb groff — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:19:52 +0000

i have a doll i need information on.i know it came out before the joey doll brcause my mom found it in the early 1970s in a junk store.its a anatonically boy doll the life size doll like the crissy doll.its got a singuture on the back of its head-CLOCKLEY OR CLODREY made in france. it looks like he sigbed it when the mold was soft. its not a stamped marking.my daughter found one on the internet like mine but it looks like a girl doll with blonde hair mine has black hair. i would really like some info in this doll.on the internet all the info was in french .but she said the date for them was the early 1930s to the 1940s. so please anything on the dpll i would like very much.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:07:08 +0000

Ha – you’re welcome!

By: Historiann

Historiann — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:36:29 +0000

Bob--that's wild. Thanks for sharing--I think? Who knew that there was a baby doll that looks exactly like Charlotte Rae's Mrs. Garrett from The Facts of Life?

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:30:08 +0000

This is too funny. I just blogged about creepy dolls, too. My mother-in-law has several, which I took pictures of, here:

http://robertian.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/presenting-the-worlds-creepiest-doll-collection/

Strange thing is: she’s in Cement City, MI — just a few miles from Brooklyn!