ARTIFACT IMAGE
Doll Item Info
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- Title:
- Doll
- Date:
- 19th century; 1883
- Description:
- Doll made out of a cork husk; plain and un-dyed; doll is wearing a dress, fichu (traditional Quaker shawl), and a bonnet, all also made out of corn. The doll's face is painted on, with the only color on the doll being the blush on her cheeks.
- Marks/Inscriptions :
- N/A
- Geographies:
- North and Central America; United States
- Provenance:
- Mary Katsuki, 11/7/1960
- Material History:
- Handmade dolls are a tradition found in cultures across the globe, typically utilizing everyday items such as potatoes, corn, and wood. The cornhusk doll, however, is a well-known Native American tradition wherein the corn is removed from the husk, and the husk and its silk are wrapped around each other to form the shape of a doll. Typically, the dolls would be painted and colored using flowers and dyes.
- Quaker connection:
- Made by Louisa Starbuck when she was 9 years old.
- Object Story, Consumption and Use:
- This doll is made out of a corn husk, and was made by Louisa Starbuck in 1883 at nine years old. As these dolls were traditionally made by Native American women and girls, this object is placed as originating in North America. However, it is worth noting that doll making is a global cultural tradition, and this doll could have also taken inspiration from English dolls. As Mac Gregor notes, in historic British tradition, “to provide a home for the [homeless] spirit and cultivate his good will, the last sheaves of the harvested wheat were plaited into a corn dolly in which the spirit could live." Mac Gregor also notes that the creation of a handmade doll inherently tells the story of its creator and owner. Typically, cornhusk dolls can be decorated and dyed with vegetable or berry juice, or with corn kernels, silk, or wildflowers. This doll is missing any sort of colorful decoration that is typical of a child's toy, which could represent Quaker culture. Eisenbarth’s case study of historical Quaker clothing discusses how Quaker children were expected to adhere to the ‘plain clothing’ culture of adult Quakers. The existence of this object as a doll created by and for a young girl is symbolic as well, as children have a tendency to gravitate toward dolls and other objects that resemble humans, typically idolizing them. This leads to awareness about a child’s own features as well as the features of those around them. It is possible that this object was made by Louisa Starbuck when she was a child as a representation of her heritage culture, an idol to carry around as a reminder of who she is and what values her community stands for.
- Research Sources:
- 1. Megan Mac Gregor, “Creation in the Hand: The Life in Folk Art Dolls” Historia 16 (2007): 119-133. 2. Markel, Michelle. (2000). Cornhusk, Silk, and Wishbones: A Book of Dolls From Around the World. Houghton Mifflin Co. 3. Eisenbarth, Erin Elise. , 2002. "Plain and Peculiar: A Case Study of Nineteenth-Century Quaker Clothing." Order No. 1408632, University of Delaware (Winterthur Program). https://proxy.swarthmore.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/plain-peculiar-case-study-nineteenth-century/docview/230763420/se-2. 4. Carol Wien et al. (2002). “The Doll Project: Handmade Dolls as Framework for Emergent Curriculum” 5. Swarthmore College, Friends Historical Library
- Type:
- Image;StillImage
- Format:
- image/jpg
- Accession Number:
- SC-FHL-R-0072
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Doll", From Local to Global - Consumption and the Quaker Body, Swarthmore College, https://swat-ds.github.io/material-culture/material-culture/items/mc008.html