Paper Dolls Collection
Collection of Te Manawa Museum. Image by Michael O’Neill, courtesy of Te Manawa Museum Society, CC BY-NC.
In this post, contributing author Stephanie Gibson uncovers the history of some of Te Manawa’s best dressed collection objects.
Many children enjoy playing with paper dolls like these, choosing from a variety of costumes and accessories. In the 19th century, such paper dolls became popular in Britain, Germany and the United States, and were either imported by New Zealand shops, or printed locally.
Paper dolls often came in books with the doll printed on the cardboard cover. Sometimes dolls came with cut-out foldable stands. Inside the book would be many different, interchangeable outfits. In the more expensive books, the outfits were pre-punched, and could be easily cut out from the page. If a costume wasn’t available, children would make their own.
Collection of Te Manawa Museum. Image by Michael O’Neill, courtesy of Te Manawa Museum Society, CC BY-NC.
This collection of paper dolls belonged to Mrs Mary O’Neill (1928-1999) whose daughters were born in the 1950s. They may have named the dolls themselves: Christeen, Margaret and Linda. The sisters possibly invented stories for their dolls to act out in their different costumes.
These dolls may have come from books with whole families and contextual storylines. In the 1950s, such books often featured white role models living idealised middle/upper class lives. Each member of a paper doll family depicted social status through their clothing, grooming and accessories, revealing gender codes of their period, particularly feminine traits and stereotypes. For example, these two teenage dolls (pictured above) have well-groomed hairstyles and wear fashionable dress, from pretty day wear to extravagant ball gowns. Some of their costumes indicate acceptable activities for girls, such as the baton twirler’s outfits and drum majorette costume. These particular garments also indicate an American origin.
Collection of Te Manawa Museum. Image by Michael O’Neill, courtesy of Te Manawa Museum Society, CC BY-NC.
Baby paper dolls were part of the wider preconditioning of young girls for motherhood. These baby dolls also clutch gendered objects – the baby girl holds a doll, the baby boy holds a beach pail.
Such a collection enables the museum to document this rich aspect of children’s play life in the mid twentieth century. Te Manawa is lucky to have these dolls as they could easily have been lost or destroyed, which is often the fate of such small fragile paper items!
Collection of Te Manawa Museum. Image by Michael O’Neill, courtesy of Te Manawa Museum Society, CC BY-NC.
These paper dolls were presented to Te Manawa Museums Trust by Mrs Jeanette Gabrielle Ansell, 2003 (2003/125/1, 3, 7, 9)
Further reading: Paper Dolls: Fragile Figures, Enduring Symbols, by Katherine H. Adams and Michael L. Keene. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2017.
