You Call It Obsession & Obscure; I Call It Research & Important

Because you know I obsess over things... Like Gimbels department stores... I was working on another set of doll articles for Diane’s Doll Hospital (this time on vintage walker dolls from the 1950s;...

In 1972, the Ms. Foundation for Women produced Free to Be… You and Me, an illustrated book and record album set. Initiated by Marlo Thomas, the mission of the Free to Be… You and Me project was to provide healthy messages refuting and rejecting gender stereotypes while encouraging the positive and empowering post-1960s ideas of gender equality, individuality, comfort with one’s identity, and tolerance. Using her celebrity clout, Marlo Thomas got a number of her celebrity friends to create, write, and perform the modern day lessons to children in song and story form. No doubt the hope was that the parents and other adults in children’s lives were listening — and learning — too.

I've been busy with articles again this month...

I also write regularly for the Dolls By Diane newsletter. This month it was all about wax dolls — from their history to some spook-tacular antique wax dolls, including 17th century wax anatomical models (like those by Anna Morandi Manzolini) and effigy dolls

Jointed or articulated paper dolls originated in France in the mid-1700s. Traditionally, these two-dimensional paper dolls were assembled via pins and corks, eyelets, or brads; making the jointed paper doll a cross between a paper doll and a puppet.