Children of Japan

Children of Japan
Courtesy, R. John Wright

Hinges and Hearts

Hinges and Hearts
An Exhibit of our Metal Dolls

Tuxedo and Bangles

Tuxedo and Bangles

A History of Metal Dolls

A History of Metal Dolls
Now on Alibris.com and In Print! The First Book of its Kind

Alice, Commemorative Edition

Alice, Commemorative Edition
Courtesy, R. John Wright

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Emma, aka, La Contessa Bathory

Emma, aka, La Contessa Bathory
Her Grace wishes us all a Merry Christmas!

Annabelle

Annabelle

Emma Emmeline

Emma Emmeline
Our New Addition/fond of stuffed toys

Cloth Clown

Cloth Clown

Native American Art

Native American Art

the triplets

the triplets

c. 1969 Greek Plastic Mini Baby

c. 1969 Greek Plastic Mini Baby
Bought Athens on the street

Iron Maiden; Middle Ages

Iron Maiden; Middle Ages

Sand Baby Swirls!

Sand Baby Swirls!
By Glenda Rolle, courtesy, the Artist

Glenda's Logo

Glenda's Logo
Also, a link to her site

Sand Baby Castaway

Sand Baby Castaway
By Glenda Rolle, Courtesy the Artist

A French Friend

A French Friend

Mickey

Mickey
From our friends at The Fennimore Museum

2000+ year old Roman Rag Doll

2000+ year old Roman Rag Doll
British Museum, Child's Tomb

Ancient Egypt Paddle Doll

Ancient Egypt Paddle Doll
Among first "Toys?"

ushabti

ushabti
Egyptian Tomb Doll 18th Dynasty

Ann Parker Doll of Anne Boleyn

Ann Parker Doll of Anne Boleyn

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Tin Head Brother and Sister, a Recent Purchase

Tin Head Brother and Sister, a Recent Purchase
Courtesy, Antique Daughter

Judge Peep

Judge Peep

Hakata Doll Artist at Work

Hakata Doll Artist at Work
From the Museum Collection

Japanese Costume Barbies

Japanese Costume Barbies
Samurai Ken

Etienne

Etienne
A Little Girl

Happy Heart Day

Happy Heart Day

From "Dolls"

From "Dolls"
A Favorite Doll Book

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Jenny Wren

Jenny Wren
Ultimate Doll Restorer

Our Friends at The Fennimore Doll and Toy Museum

Our Friends at The Fennimore Doll and Toy Museum

Baby Boo 1960s

Baby Boo 1960s
Reclaimed and Restored as a childhood Sabrina the Witch with Meow Meow

Dr. E's on Display with sign

Dr. E's on Display with sign

Dolls Restored ad New to the Museum

Dolls Restored ad New to the Museum
L to R: K*R /celluloid head, all bisque Artist Googly, 14 in. vinyl inuit sixties, early celluloid Skookum type.

Two More Rescued Dolls

Two More Rescued Dolls
Late Sixties Vinyl: L to R: Probably Horseman, all vinyl, jointed. New wig. R: Effanbee, probably Muffy, mid sixties. New wig and new clothing on both. About 12 inches high.

Restored Italian Baby Doll

Restored Italian Baby Doll
One of Dr. E's Rescued Residents

Dolls on Display

Dolls on Display
L to R: Nutcrackers, Danish Troll, HItty and her book, Patent Washable, Mechanical Minstrel, Creche figure, M. Alexander Swiss. Center is a German mechanical bear on the piano. Background is a bisque German costume doll.

A Few Friends

A Few Friends
These dolls are Old German and Nutcrackers from Dr. E's Museum. They are on loan to another local museum for the holidays.

Vintage Collage

Vintage Collage
Public Domain Art

The Merry Wanderer

The Merry Wanderer
Courtesy R. John Wright, The Hummel Collection

The Fennimore Doll Museum

The Fennimore Doll Museum

Robert

Robert
A Haunted Doll with a Story

Halloween Dolls Displayed in a Local Library

Halloween Dolls Displayed in a Local Library

The Cody Jumeau

The Cody Jumeau
Long-faced or Jumeau Triste

German Princesses

German Princesses
GAHC 2005

A Little PowerRanger

A Little PowerRanger
Halloween 2004

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The Island of the Dolls
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Based on the Nutshell Series of Death

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A lovely dress

A lovely dress

Raggedy Ann

Raggedy Ann
A few friends in cloth!

Fennimore Doll and Toy Museum, WI

Fennimore Doll and Toy Museum, WI
Pixar Animator's Collection

Little PM sisters

Little PM sisters
Recent eBay finds

Dressed Mexican Fleas

Dressed Mexican Fleas

Really old Dolls!

Really old Dolls!

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

October Skyward by guest blogger, Dr. David Levy

 

Skyward for October 2021

 

 

David H. Levy

 

Fond memories of Carolyn Shoemaker

 

       One clear evening during the summer of 2019, I was using Pegasus, one of my childhood friend Carl’s telescopes, at our annual Adirondack Astronomy Retreat.  When my cellphone began to ring, I picked it up with some surprise.  At the other end of the line was Carolyn Shoemaker.  I was thrilled to hear from her, as it had been some time since our last contact. Carolyn was doing well, except for a mild loss of hearing.  She had called to say that since her daughter and son-in-law had moved to New Mexico, she would be living at the Peaks, a comfortable assisted living facility in Flagstaff.  My colleague Brent Archinal gave me her cell phone number.  I was able to speak with her again a few months later. I wanted to find a way to increase the frequency of our conversations.  “You speak with your brother Richard every Monday,” Wendee commented, and suggested,   “Why not call Carolyn every Monday as well?

 For the next 18 months that’s what I did.  Carolyn would pick up the phone and announce, “It is David. It must be Monday!”  Wendee would often join the discussion as well.  But when I called on Monday, August 9, no one answered.  After repeated tries, her daughter Linda called to say that Carolyn had had a minor fall and was in the hospital.  On Thursday evening, August 12, she went into respiratory arrest.  Carolyn died the next morning at 10:40 A.M. Arizona time.

With her husband Gene and the five-year comet and asteroid program we shared, Carolyn was responsible for a very rich period in my life. In fact, virtually every article one reads about the Shoemakers will agree that the discovery and impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 were the most significant part of our professional lives.

Carolyn began her observing project a few years after her husband Gene was disqualified as a potential astronaut because of Addison’s disease.  He decided to go at the problem of impacts, not from studying craters as he walked about on the Moon, but from the opposite direction of the comets and asteroids that collide with the Moon, and with the Earth.  Carolyn quickly learned to become proficient at using the stereomicroscope. She would place two films into the microscope; they were identical except that the second plate would be about 45 minutes later than the first.  The films were almost always identical, except that when an asteroid was moving slowly, it would appear to float above the starry background.  Carolyn discovered 377 asteroids this way, each one charted until its orbit round the Sun could be determined accurately.   When one included the asteroids for which orbits have not yet been determined, that number rose significantly, according to Carolyn, to about 800.

In 1983 Carolyn discovered the first of her 32 comets.  When their colleague Henry Holt joined the following year, the number of new comets rose rapidly. It was only a year or two after that when she surpassed the number of comets another famous astronomer, Caroline Herschel, discovered, and Sky & Telescope published a news note about “Carolyn passing Caroline.” I joined the team in 1989.  In a sense, passing Herschel’s record might have been Carolyn’s golden moment, but it wasn’t.  That came later on a cloudy and dull day on March 25, 1993.  Two nights earlier I had taken two exposures that she was scanning. Suddenly looking up, she announced “I don’t know what I have, but it looks like a squashed comet.”  That was the discovery moment of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.  Sixteen months later, when the 21 pieces of this fragmented collided with Jupiter, we got to meet President Clinton and chat amiably with Vice President Gore and share the world’s excitement over the first collision of a comet and a planet ever witnessed by humans.  It was a satisfying peak to all our careers.

After Gene died in a car accident in Australia, Carolyn continued observing with Wendee and me for several years. One evening she confided that sometimes she wished she had died with Gene.   But she did not and the world was able to enjoy her company for more than 24 more years.  The weekly telephone calls began much later.  I shall miss the deep friendship I enjoyed with Carolyn Shoemaker, the woman whose energy, intelligence, and terrific sense of humor brightened our lives and made the night sky a happier place.

 

 


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