Understanding the Doll Culture
by One of the most characteristic examples of girls’ material culture, the idea of the doll as a small representation of a human and as a popular toy, unravels under closer scrutiny. Some doll-like figures have a functional existence that extends beyond play, such as the artist’s lay figure or the small mannequins sold along with miniature cutout patterns to teach girls the basic skills of home dressmaking in the 1930s and 1940s.
Dolls have also found a serious place in the educational curriculum. Dressing a doll circa 1900 frequently replaced the task of making a sewing sampler so that girls in rudimentary public schooling could learn sewing skills. Dolls from other countries or dressed in national costumes have often been employed in the schoolroom to encourage children’s interest in different cultures. Such activities continue today often at an informal level or supplemented with picture books and other learning materials. However, this use of dolls was particularly widespread in the 1920s and 1930s, extending to collections of dolls housed in publicly run children’s museums and in museum “education,” “community,” and “outreach” programs. In the era between the world wars the exchange of “friendship dolls” between North American and Japanese school children, at a time of heightened international tensions, serves to indicate the role of diplomatic agency that dolls were seen as filling at the level of everyday culture.
Many of these dolls were demoted from their cherished positions in classroom displays and were summarily and publicly “executed” when hostilities broke out. Functional dolls may be misread later in history as having been play dolls, and vice versa. Likewise, misreading across cultures may misidentify religious and ritual figures as toys. Even Christian figures from the Roman Catholic tradition before early modern times, with their elaborately sewn garments reflecting fashionable, courtly dress and accessories, can be mistaken by collectors and dealers for play dolls.
Although it is assumed that women will put aside dolls upon leaving their girlhood years, there are myriad male and female interactions with dolls, from work-based to leisure, from closeted secret activity to hobby to commercial enterprise. Buying and selling dolls at “doll fairs” and on the Internet is a significant business in North America and elsewhere. Dolls also overlap into the category of decorative figurines and statuettes for children and adults, especially the many types of non-jointed dolls and dolls with elaborate porcelain, resin, or plastic detailing. Academic literature that addresses issues related to the quality of childhood experiential and material culture and the appropriate role of capitalism in childhood, often ignores the irony and sophistication of adult reactions to and engagement with dolls and their extension downward into girlhood. Aside from their use in play narratives and activities, dolls can play many other roles in the material culture of girls’ lives. Dolls can function as aspects of their room decor, housewares, accessories, and even jewelry.
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