Our Undying Admiration to Rivertown Creative and Taking Inventory

Sara, you are wonderful! To Sara and Doecker of Rivertown Creative for doing such a wonderful job with our metal doll book, and also for being the custodian of our files and finidng/returning all our quirkly research. This leads me to the post for the day; taking and keeping inventory.

I keep my inventory materials, doll counts, certain photos, certificates, receipts, particular articles, rare postcards, and osme paper dolls in a large 3-ring binder, now about to become two since it is so unweildy. I will put back the photos used for the metal doll/automaton book. I also keep rare articles in it, including one on Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller written in 1902 by John Macy, Annie's husband. I have a wonderful artists rendition of Helen and Annie at the pump, as well as several books/paper dolls, etc. Keller also liked dolls, and they figured into her education.

I am taking photos of the dolls that have been moved, even in their boxes. These will be labelled with locations and summary of contents. Even Dad isn't laughing at me. It is harder and harder for us to find collectibles insurance, but keeping a record like this in a safe place, albeit informal, helps. It is time it were updated.

There are other binders and notebooks, for the museum, of paper dolls, of subjects like Tasha Tudor, Margaret Woodbury Strong, etc. I keep them separate for now, but will soon move them to be with the "grand inventory." My husband is working on a computer database, too, but I don't pu all my eggs in one basket. One ever knows. I think moving dolls is what is really deadly; I used to know where ALL of them were. Now, I haveto hink hard and hunt.

Also, I learned to keep museum exhibits together once they were packed away and taken home. I can reproduce the exhibit this way till storage is not a problem, and the artifacts stay organized. Cabinets of Curiosities and In Flagrante Collecto got me thinking this way. It is much easier to keep track of the dolls and what goes with them. I also try to keep miniatures and doll house materials together.

My husband is the photographer; I use polaroids and film cameras. These prints can be put on disk and enlarged. I also group all my doll books and reference books on related subjects together as much as I can.

I would love a whole wall of an electronic flow chart like Maharet's when possible; till now, well, I certainly manage. A good memory doesn't hurt, either.