Ruby Lane Doll Shopping with Ann Pruett-Phillips at UFDC

Doll Museum: Ellen's Pinterest Boards

Doll Museum: Ellen's Pinterest Boards: These are my own boards; even if they don't seem to be about dolls, all the boards include photos of them.  Doll Collection and All Abou...

Lady Liberty; Bartholdi's Big Doll

PBS recently aired a documentary on the creation of The Statue of Liberty.  In it, the narrator mentioned that Bartholdi referred to her as his American woman, or something like that. He spoke of her as a child might speak of a favorite doll, and what is a statue, after all, but a huge doll? Like Barbie, in fact, Lady Liberty inspired a lot of emotions, negative and positive.  A lot of souvenirs and memorabilia have been created in her image, including dolls, a Barbie here, a North American Bear or Betty Boop here. 


I wrote a long paper on Emma Lazarus, who wrote The New Colossus, the poem on Liberty's base.  Like Liberty herself, my paper seemed to stir up a lot of controversy.  Also let's play six degrees of separation.   Lazarus was a friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne's daughter, and Hawthorne wrote The House of Seven Gables, where dolls were featured, and have been made for several decades.




Public Domain

Simon and Halbig with Rosalie Whyel and Shelley Helzer | Private Antique...

Doll Shopping in the Booth of Gail Lemmon of All Dolled Up

Live with Nancy McCray in the UFDC 2018 Salesroom

Update on Huguette Clark's Dolls; Bellosguardo Foundation Awaiting IRS Decision, Transfer of Santa Barbara Property

Bellosguardo Foundation Awaiting IRS Decision, Transfer of Santa Barbara Property: Heiress Huguette Clark’s beachfront estate on Cabrillo Boulevard is slated to become a museum open to the public

The Nanny, Baby Dolls used to teach Parenting, and Appleheads

Dolls and allusions to dolls are no strangers on the it 90s sitcom The Nanny, starring Fran Drescher.  Today, I was watching a show where she and Max were given animatronic babies to care for while they awaiting the birth of their twins. The dolls were dressed in pink and blue, and called Karen and Frankie.   The babies cried at very inopportune moments, and at one point, Fran nearly melted poor Frankie doll on the toaster oven. At one point during the show, Fran mentioned she hard relatives who carved dried apple dolls.

Apple Head Dolls, Public Domain

The Nanny Paper Doll Public Domain



The Nanny Doll Public Domain

There have been puppets, Barbies, 18 inch type doll, stuffed animals, a doll house, and a reference to a cracked antique doll on the show.  I would love a Fran doll with her own wardrobe; I would just love her wardrobe!  Then, there are the props; ornaments, Christmas angels, figurines, small statues, jade, and Parian ware.  

Cast of the Nanny, Fran Drescher and Charles Shaughnessy, Public Domain

What can I say?  Dolls are everywhere!

Public Domain Image

Early Version, Public Domain Image

How to Identify Steiff's Legacy Teddy Bears From The Early 1900’s-1920 - Ruby Lane Blog

How to Identify Steiff's Legacy Teddy Bears From The Early 1900’s-1920 - Ruby Lane Blog: Written by ‘Steiffgal’ Rebekah Kaufman for Ruby Lane As a vintage doll and toy lover, you know the excitement of discovering an early Steiff (button-in-ear) brand Teddy bear on Ruby Lane, at auction, at a show, or even at a garage sale! These antique cubs are universally beloved for their charming, old fashioned looks and... Read more »

10 Clues You Might Be a Doll Addict - Ruby Lane Blog

10 Clues You Might Be a Doll Addict - Ruby Lane Blog: On the Dolls Lane, we live and breathe dolls all day, every day. It’s safe to say that we are doll addicts. If you’ve heard the saying, ‘it takes one to know one,’ let us know if any of these telltale clues apply to you! 1.    You tell your fiancé that you would rather have... Read more »

Ruby Lane Doll Talk: New Acquisitions to The Grovian Doll Museum

Doll Artist Spotlight with Tanya Marriott of New Zealand

Doll Artist Spotlight with Tanya Marriott of New Zealand

Ruby Lane Dolls: Art in Felt: Lenci Doll Seminar

Doll Museum: Informal Museum Shots including some New Finds; Ha...

Doll Museum: Informal Museum Shots including some New Finds; Ha...: Please enjoy a survey of some of our dolls; if dolls tell the story of mankind, the my museum and I would like to illustrate humanity' b...

One Step Closer to being a Museum and Happy 4th!

Happy and safe 4th of July!!  This is a special one for us.  Today, we took another step closer to becoming a brick and mortar doll museum. We are nearly finished with our paperwork and set up a bank account as the American Doll and Toy Museum.

This weekend, I'm getting a new curio, too.  It's taken me my whole life, since age 3,but it is happening!  This will be a museum for education and research, but also for fun.  Here, the dolls of the world and every age of history will rub elbow in peace, as we in the real, human world, probably never will.

Many dolls wear red, white, and blue, and I've started a Ruby Lane doll page on Pinterest for you all to enjoy.  I also did a blog post on dolls for the 4th.   To all those in the US who read my blog, Happy 4th and be safe.  To our friends and family in the rest of the world, we wish you peace, liberty, and happiness.   

The NIADA Doll Conference in Pacific Grove, CA