Museum all ‘dolled’ up for exhibit

BANGOR – For a Newburgh woman, an interest in dolls and collecting them arose when her granddaughters were born more than a dozen years ago.

“I’d go to auctions with Peggy Kaufman,” said Inez Toothaker, club member and past president of Maine-ly Dolls Club, referring to a co-founder of the club. “I started looking at dolls and saw them everywhere.”

Toothaker, who owns and operates Country Cottage Antiques and Collectibles in Newburgh, said her interest is in dolls that represent children from the turn of the century to the 1950s. Those dolls, she said, run the gamut of materials used in doll making – porcelain, a wood paste known as composition, rubber, hard plastic and vinyl.

The organization to which Toothaker belongs was begun by several area women – including Kaufman of Dexter, Pearl Jameson of Hampden and Doris Broad of Glenburn – who got together to share their interest in dolls. They established Maine-ly Dolls Club to create, stimulate and maintain local interest in all matters pertaining to doll collecting.

The women met in one another’s homes and a year later became affiliated with the United Federation of Dolls Clubs Inc., a national organization founded as a clearinghouse for ideas and information pertaining to doll collecting.

Many mid- to late-19th century porcelain dolls were made in Germany, Toothaker said. Some were sent to France to be dressed – and exported to the United States. But during World War I, those exports were curtailed. Many German doll makers emigrated to the United States at that time and took up their craft here, which fueled the American doll-making industry.

Doll collecting, she said, is about observing, learning and restoring, as well as collecting.

“Many club members,” Toothaker said, “have backgrounds in education.”

During World War II, some manufacturers used string for doll hair, she said. Who knew? Doll collectors.

Club member Jackie Bussiere, of Bangor, said club programs are educational and informative.

“We are always learning something new at the meetings,” Bussiere said. “Plus, we get to see and learn about other members’ collections.” Recent programs have included talks on Marie Osmond dolls and the Bleuette dolls, which are made in France.

Every spring, the nonprofit club holds a doll show and sale that benefits organizations such as the Good Samaritan Agency, Cloth Dolls for Children with AIDS, the Maine Discovery Museum and Shaw House. The show, held at the Bangor Elks Club, features dolls, doll clothes, bears, toys, dollhouses and miniatures.

A display case of dolls, provided by Maine-ly Dolls Club members, is now on view through November at the Maine Discovery Museum. The collection features American Indian dolls, including dolls depicting the Penobscot, Navaho, Cherokee and Nez Perce cultures. Other Maine-ly Dolls Club displays at the museum have focused on storybook and fairy tale dolls.

For information about joining the Maine-ly Dolls Club, call 945-3108. For the United Federation of Dolls Clubs, visit its Web site at www.ufdc.org.

The Maine Discovery Museum hours are 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. The museum is usually closed on Mondays but will be open 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 25. For information about museum offerings, call 262-7200.