On a typical Sunday, an estimated 700 patrons visit the Des Plaines Public Library. On one Sunday in the middle of May, there was a line just to get in the door. Counting more adults and children than books that day, the circulation department would report that 1,200-1,500 folks, a number of them from the northwest suburbs, visited that afternoon.
But these people weren’t there to read. The draw was dolls–specifically, the grand opening of the Research Center of the United Federation of Doll Clubs Inc.
The Kansas City, Mo.-based organization, which promotes doll collecting, opened the research center in the library to advance the serious study of dolls.
“We anticipate that our research center will ultimately become the No. 1 source of information on dolls, ” said doll federation president Patricia Gosh of Los Angeles. “Our goal is that it is for doll collectors all over the world, not just (federation) members.”
Speaking at the grand opening, John Burke of Des Plaines, president of the Des Plaines Library Board, called the new research center “a library within a library. This alliance with the (center) is consistent with our vision, and their research services are a natural extension of everything that we do here in the library every day.”
Des Plaines Mayor Paul Jung admitted that upon entering the building, someone steered him toward the male action figure display case, which contains the collection of Des Plaines resident Dennis Hindmon.
“But that wasn’t what I wanted to see,” the mayor added with a sly smile. “I wanted to see the Barbie collection.”
There are more than 1,000 dolls in the doll federation’s collection, and hundreds of these will rotate into displays in the research center at any given time. The center’s database includes more than 5,000 items, including books, catalogs and other printed material. Its topics range from doll fashions and types of dolls to manufacturers, old and current toy manufacturers’ catalogs and magazines. Some of the materials date to before 1900. The group also has a Web site: http://www.ufdc.org.
“It’s definitely a hands-on, working, teaching center,” said Susan Burrows of Des Plaines, the on-site coordinator. “Yes, we have books, and we have toy catalogs going back over a hundred years. But we also have the dolls. We regard them the same as going to the Field Museum of Natural History, and you’re looking at the dinosaur bones and learning about dinosaurs. Well, the dolls are our bones, and we’re learning about people and cultures from them.”
Despite the analogy, Burrows pointed out that this is not a museum but a learning center in which seminars and workshops will play as important a role as the displays.
You needn’t be a federation or doll club member to use the facility, and if you have specific research needs, you can request information from the all-volunteer staff. In addition, researchers can identify, but not appraise, dolls. Local Girl Scouts will have an opportunity to earn a doll collecting badge.
“We have the largest (doll-related) audio-visual library with over 5,000 slides of dolls, over 375 slide programs that are rented to our club and study sets that individuals can take home to learn sewing, manufacturing, marks and identification,” Gosh said.
The federation’s doll collection includes both antique (German bisque, French bisque, French fashion, china) and modern (hard plastic/vinyl, composition, cloth, paper, artist). Some of the dolls on display at the research center belong to area doll club members.
The three-hour grand opening featured a schedule brimming with doll-related events. Educational demonstrations included wig making, shoe making, carving, sculpting, machine embroidery and French hand sewing.
Doll dealer Gigi Williams of Gigi’s Dolls & Sherry’s Teddy Bears in Chicago was in demand by visitors who had brought their treasures for expert appraisal. “Fabulous!” Williams pronounced when handed a 25-inch Shirley Temple doll. “It’s rare to find them in this condition.”
Over at the refreshment table, volunteers/collectors Karen Holich of Mt. Prospect, Carole Bates of West Chicago and Charlotte Malin of Skokie were busy serving delicate Mint Milanos and a zingy little punch. “I think it’s wonderful that out of the whole United States, they chose the Des Plaines Public Library,” Holich said. “We have not only the beautiful display cases but so much reference material upstairs and so many knowledgeable people.”
Enjoying the grand-opening events, Mary Ann Mares of Morton Grove, owner of Mary Ann’s Dolls and Ceramics in Morton Grove, said, “I think the Research Center is wonderful. It’s great to study the old dolls, and it will certainly educate all of us.”
Although doll display cases are sprinkled throughout the library’s three floors, it is the balcony that is officially designated as the research center. The library can’t use the approximately 700 square feet of space and still comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, so the space makes a cozy nook for just such an endeavor.
“We’re very fortunate that we have this research center in the Chicago area, and we can thank O’Hare, our transportation hub, for that, because people can easily get here. That was a big factor in choosing this area,” said Burrows, who is also a member of the Des Plaines Library Board.
Established in 1949, the United Federation of Doll Clubs is a volunteer umbrella organization that counts more than 800 member doll clubs and 17,000 individual members. It has 17 regions in the United States and one international region that serves Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia, Italy and other countries.
“There’s a great deal of fellowship in this organization,” said first vice president Lynn Murray of Kleinburg, Ontario. “Most people who have belonged to (the group) for more than two or three years will tell you the people have become more important to them than their dolls. It’s a good place to be, especially as a woman in today’s world, although we do have men in the group, because whatever challenge is facing you in your life, someone else has already faced it and succeeded.”
In the mid-1980s, the doll federation initiated the idea of a research center. After writing to museums and libraries and putting out a call for original materials, the group began to accumulate so much it was running out of space in Kansas City. The federation was looking in the Kansas City area when Burrows contacted the federation and mentioned the library’s balcony space was available. In 1994-95, the doll federation and the Des Plaines Library got together, and in early 1996, books and materials started to arrive in Des Plaines. Since then, volunteers have been unpacking, doing inventory and dressing up the dolls for exhibit.
About the same time the location was finalized, the late Etta Bartelmay, a former resident of the Peoria area, left much of her collection of antique and collectible dolls to the research center. Others, such as Eileen Henry of Des Plaines and Bill Kilburn of Waukegan (on behalf of his late wife, Edna), made valuable contributions as well.
“(The center) is a tool for learning, and we will use these dolls in teaching preservation, body types, design and history,” said research center collections coordinator Elizabeth Szoke of Park Ridge. “It is needed because those who knew are gone.”
The dolls themselves are learning tools. “When people hold the dolls, they can study how their eyes are put in, etc.,” Burrows said.
The research center welcomes donations and puts no restrictions on acceptance, so even your basement-dwelling childhood favorite, whose hair you once decided needed to be cut by you, is welcome.
“We might be upgrading to a better doll, or we may not have one of that kind, or we may want several of one kind on hand for teaching purposes.” Burrows said.”So, in all cases, we’ll have a need or use for the donation. We have 30-40 Barbie dolls now, but they’re not all the same Barbie.”
One display case features china dolls from the 19th Century, including the affectionately named Frozen Charlottes from Germany. “It’s based on an old American folk ballad about a vain, beautiful young girl who has lots of suitors,” Burrows said. “She’s going to a New Year’s Eve ball, and her mother says, `Put on a coat,’ and she says, `No, I want people to see me in my dress.’ So she travels by sleigh to the ball and by the time she arrives, she’s frozen white.”
Another case features composition dolls, which were made in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s of wood-based materials mixed with different types of wood glue. Manufacturers promoted them as being unbreakable in contrast to the bisque (porcelain) dolls. Here you’ll find flirty-eyed Shirley Temples and the Dionne Quints, the world’s first surviving quintuplets. Both representations continue to be very popular among collectors, Burrows said.
“This is a case of artist dolls,” said Burrows, gesturing toward another display, “made by National Institute of American Doll Artists–those who are the best.”
You needn’t look far for friends such as Kewpie, Howdy Doody, Clarabell the Clown, Barbie, Michael Jackson, Elvis and Beanie Babies (they’re not dolls, but dolls’ toys). Yes, Tabasco the Bull is here, but you can’t buy him at any price–he’s happily retired in the arms of Baby Hilda’s Sister.
Szoke said dolls are a reflection of the times. “There were no baby dolls in the last century,” said Szoke, offering one example. “Little kids were not cherished as little kids. They were miniature adults, and they had to grow to the adult standard.
“We live in a disposable world, and that’s what’s reflected now. But also, education is a big thing, and you’ve got the American Girls dolls.” These dolls, manufactured by Pleasant Co. in Wisconsin, represent periods of American history.
“That’s a perfect example. When girls are playing with Samantha, they’re playing with 1900 New York,” Burrows said.
What makes a doll valuable to collectors is not so much how old it is, but a mix of desirability and rarity. “If all the girls had kept their Barbies in boxes back in the ’50s,” explained Burrows, “they wouldn’t be as collectible now.”
Wheeling is home to Shirley’s Doll House, whose owner, Shirley Bertrand, largely credits her 35-year membership in the doll federation with keeping her interest strong. “The new research center is a beautiful display,” she said. “It adds a lot to collecting, and it will also start people collecting. This is a hobby that teaches history and is fun, too. I think people who collect must have a chromosome someplace that says, `I collect.’ “
Extra chromosome or not, area enthusiasts cite a variety of reasons for their interest. Des Plaines resident Dorothy Szumal serves as treasurer of both Yesterday’s Children of Northern Illinois, a doll club based in the Barrington area, and Sun-Days Doll Club, which is based in Des Plaines. “I enjoy being with doll people,” she explained. “I have fallen in love with the antique dolls; right now, I just want to learn and absorb everything I can about their histories and the companies that made them.”
Rena Lovell of Mt. Prospect belongs to the Fireside Doll Workshop of Illinois, a doll club based in the northwest suburbs. She said her passion for dolls has a variety of sources. “On a real basic level,” she said, “I find the dolls I enjoy to be beautiful. But I also appreciate them for their link to the past, what they tell us about values of different eras.”
With the research center, all those who feel the magic of dolls have a central place to gather, to study, to grow. And the research center dolls get something out of it, too. For after the library closes and everyone goes home, there are still, after all, a lot of good books in this building.
For information on the Research Center of the United Federation of Doll Clubs Inc., call 847-827-9540.
