Paper dolls bring back very particular childhood memories for me. I especially remember waiting eagerly for my mom to tear out the Betsy McCall page from her McCall's magazines that she brought home from the supermarket every month. I loved Betsy, she was a playmate of many happy hours.
I have always loved dolls of all kinds, but paper dolls are special to me, and something I still collect even though I'm nearly 50 years old. I've long since sold my collections of Artist dolls and Barbies, but my paper dolls are still with me. They take up much less room than their plastic and porcelain cousins. The great thing is that you can have thousands of dolls and costumes from all eras, all kept tidy in a few storage bins.
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| Lettie Lane, Betsy McCall's precursor | |
Another magazine page doll I love is Lettie Lane. She appeared in Ladies Home Journal magazine a hundred years ago, but you can still locate some uncut pages now and then. There are also fine reproductions available, but they are much smaller than the antique version, as the original magazine was quite a bit larger than modern magazines. They usually included lots of outfits per page and often featured family members with full wardrobes as well.
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| Lettie's doll has little paper dresses and a hat of her very own. |
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Paper dolls have been produced for hundreds of years, making it possible to collect from all decades and in countless styles. Celebrity dolls have always been popular, and you can find originals and reproductions of hundreds of movie stars. Perhaps the most famous is Shirley Temple, who has several paper doll books devoted to her, but many are adult stars like Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor, Bettie Page, and so many more.
There are many modern artists making paper dolls as well, some with a vintage vibe, and some totally up to the moment. Paper dolls are as limitless as the imagination, can take many forms and styles, and can be quiet time capsules of fashion trends and tastes.
If you are interested in paper dolls, check out this link:
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