19th Century Paper Dolls

* This post was reproduced from my Reconstruction website (where you will see why I have been too busy to post here, I hope).

Peterson's magazine was practically a staple for ladies in the American Victorian home. Next to Godey's Lady's Book, it was certainly the most popular.  Published monthly, it contained stories, fashion plates (both hand-colored and black & white engravings), advice on home management (furnishing, cooking, maintenance, and sewing), poetry, songs, embroidery patterns, and much more.

Many women saved the magazine for its tips and illustrations, and if it was economically feasible for them, had it bound. This edition in my collection is from 1867 and once belonged to Jennie L. Howard.

Peterson's Magazine hasn't been published in over a hundred years, but its popularity with collectors (particularly for its fold-out colored fashion plates), is rivaled only by that of Godey's. Both single loose issues and bound volumes can readily be found at antiquarian book stores and auctions, but prices can vary radically depending on the age, condition, and contents of the magazine. I got a bargain when I found this volume online for less than $20. I love it not only for its plates but because it's a window into the popular culture of the 19th century, its trends, attitudes, and amusements for women of a growing middle class.

I have some more plates to share from Peterson's from my personal collection, but they are not from this particular volume.

It's been hard to get any creative work done this past week. Busy on the regular job and evenings have been spent reading and trying to stay away from things that otherwise tax my eyes. But I am hoping to have new things to post after the coming weekend (which can't get here soon enough!)

Meanwhile, here's Lydia by Peggy Jo Rosamund. I think she's one of Rosamund's nicer looking dolls (more natural, anyway ~ she doesn't have that creepy doll look). I bought her on eBay a bazillion years ago, it seems. She was originally made with three extra pages of clothes, but I only have one extra page (a shame!).

She was published in a doll magazine (Doll Reader, I think). These are the two pages I own. I actually found the other two pages online and will share them in another post at another time.  I just wanted to share a bit of her here to keep things buzzing along in the interim. As always, give the image a click to see a little more detail.

It's definitely my ambition to finish a couple of dresses this weekend! I am studying some color combinations and working myself up to the task of tackling something that's not quite so duo or monochrome!

I'm always delighted to find paper dolls by artists other than Tom Tierney. Not that I don't appreciate Tierney's work (and especially since he's so prolific and has created so many cool 19th century-era dolls!). But I enjoy different styles and enjoy the distinctive qualities each artist brings to their own work.

I'm not very familiar with most of Stall's work, but I found this little gem (4 pages originally published in the May, June/July 1985 editions of Doll Reader) on eBay (where else?). I did not reproduce the whole set of costumes, but wanted to share the doll and my favorite dress at least.

This is Adrienne, a "fashionable lady of 1864" and her wardrobe is based on designs that originally appeared in The Lady's Friend, which was a journal for women produced in Philadelphia in the 19th century. The nice thing about Stall basing this on contemporary magazine fashions from the era is that she included some footnotes regarding the various pieces of clothing and where they originally appeared in the magazine. Very cool idea!

The Dress here at the left is my favorite of the lot and I am drawing something based on it for my own set of dolls (for Emmaline). You can see both the doll and the dress in much more detail if you click on the images.

Because this is printed on somewhat fragile magazine paper, I'm looking forward to making a photocopy on sturdy paper so that I can cut the pieces out. I love them so much in black and white, I don't think I'll even attempt to color them.

Before I sign off for vacation, I thought I should offer at least one Santa Claus paper doll ('tis the season and all). I intend to make my own one day ~ I have some pretty specific ideas about what I want him to look like, and he does appear in my series at least once that I am aware of, so he's officially a "character" of this universe. But in the meantime, here's Tom Tierney's Santa Claus, who deserves the honor since he has the coolest 19th century costumes of all the Santa Claus paper dolls that I have seen. Click on the image to see the costumes in more detail.

The marketing idea of a "Santa Claus" was really born in the 19th century, thanks to Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" (more commonly called by its opening line minus a "t'was: "The Night Before Christmas". The idea was popularized by Thomas Nast in the illustrated papers (the patriotic depiction on the left is drawn from a wartime newspaper in 1863 ~ notice the army camp in the background there).

Tierney's paper doll includes an interesting evolution of Santa Claus through the 19th century from his Dutch beginnings in a 1821 image all the way to the turn of the century in his first motorcar. The second costume here is undated, but by the look of the doll it's likely based on an image from somewhere in the 1830s or 40s.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and I look forward to posting lots of fun stuff in the new year!

I had wanted to post something Halloweeny yesterday, but couldn't muster the enthusiasm to find a paper doll in costume (though I had a couple in mind who are wearing masquerade ball gowns ~ nothing too exciting anyway, so it's probably just as well.

Instead, today, in commemoration of All Saints, I'm sharing one of the most famous of the 19th Century saints of the Roman Catholic Church: Saint Therese of Lisieux, who was also called the "Little Flower" (you can read her story and see images of her at the Patron Saint Index if you click her name). The artist is Patricia Anderson Milan, who has done a handful of saints in paper doll form. Unfortunately, these appear to be out of print, but you can still find copies floating around.

There are a good number of things I love about these dolls. They are made for young children, so they are large, bright, and extremely easy to cut out (all of the dolls and dresses are very simple shapes, making most of the clothing interchangeable between characters (an added bonus). Also, there are just so many of them! This set includes Therese as a child and an adult, her sisters, aunt, uncle, cousin, parents, friends, and even her dog. The range of clothing includes school clothes, everyday wear, Communion dresses, and numerous habits of her religious order. Although the artwork is somewhat crude, it's got a handmade charm you can't get from super-polished work (with which I have a love/hate relationship). And because they are so easy to cut and handle, the set really does encourage play (more complex sets can seem too fragile or have too many very small pieces).

Click on the images to see more details. The overall quality of these dolls make them worth every penny.

Meanwhile, I actually have been working on making clothes. I just haven't had much energy to scan and post anything. As usual, I am at that place where suddenly I dislike my own creations rather intensely. I tend to get bogged down at this stage. Everything comes to a grinding halt. Why continue making a doll I dislike?

I will continue to muddle.

Robert Todd Lincoln gets the Tierney treatment in Abraham Lincoln and His Family. This has got to be one of the stranger set of paper dolls on some level: the Lincolns didn't exactly have a happy household; Lincoln was assassinated, Tad died young, and Robert and his mother parted ways rather bitterly over her erratic (insane) behavior. I'm surprised there's no inclusion of Willie among the boys (Why not? What's one more dead Lincoln?). Maybe it's just my own morbid mind that conjures these thoughts.

Otherwise, the collection is very nice (though I don't really need to think about what Abraham Lincoln looks like in his long johns). The inclusion of Mary's widows weeds brings us back to the whole "morbid" thing, but seems a necessary inclusion. With Tierney's other presidents, he often included some close friends or other "family", not so here. Just Abe, Mary, and the two boys. Probably that was a good choice. I don't know what I would have done if there had been a Stanton doll (shudder!).

I didn't get any work done on paper dolls last week (didn't like the way I mixed the paints and ended up with a flesh tone that was just gagly. So I ruined a set. Now I have to start over. I'll try to work on them this weekend and post something soon! I cleaned off my desk space so that I could work more comfortably, but of course it is already crowded with books and papers again.