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Dolls of the 20th Century - A Celebration in Pictures and Histories

Favorite dolls may fade with time - our love for them never will.

The little old-fashioned corn husk doll featured in the logo of DollKind has been in my family for so long, no one exactly remembers where she came from. Golden with age, her floss hair grown flyaway, her leafy skirts more than a little rough around the edges, this tiny doll has survived years of loving play. She is a doll whose character is self-evident, and when I hold her in my hand, I hold a touchstone for my childhood. I remember the fragrance of oatmeal cookies baking in the kitchen. I remember bright fall trees outside my window and all the happy days of caring for my doll family.

In the history of every grown woman, there were once special dolls. They gave us, as little girls, the important opportunity to imagine, to laugh, to nurture. Like Beth March in Little Women, many of us took in orphan dolls that had been cast aside by less tender children and we set up infirmaries for them. What a lesson in compassion the poor little dears were teaching us!

Celebrate your favorite dolls of the 20th century with us! We have fabulous doll photos and doll histories here for your enjoyment. And, we're not snobs. We like the simple five and dime vintage dolls as much as we like the famous collectible ones.

Nancy Ann Dolls	Lolly Dolly Dolls	Ginny Dolls	Betsy McCall Dolls	Madame Alexander Dolls
Holly Hobbie Dolls	Kewpie Dolls	Dolly Dingle / Campbell's Soup Kids	Paper Dolls	Raggedy Ann Dolls
Bradley Dolls	Nesting Dolls	The Ginghams Paper Dolls	Crissy Doll	Thumbelina Doll
Swingy Doll	Little Girl Dolls	My Friend Dolls	The Littles Dolls	Cissy Doll
Apple Doll	Little Women Dolls	Little Boy Dolls	Fashion Plates	Dolly Pops

Coming Soon - More Stories of the Favorite Dolls You Played With!

Play The Doll Game - Guess That Doll
How many famous dolls can you recognize by looking at fabric swatches from their memorable clothing? Test your skill at remembering the textiles you loved from doll clothes. Share your score with other doll collectors. This is a simple, quick game we hope you'll love! Play the Doll Game now.

Dolls of Every Description!
There were Christmas dolls, pulled from their festive gift wrap with gasps of delight. Whether we'd spent months begging our parents for them or they came as a complete surprise, they were the very best presents of all. One year, my mother thrilled me with a green velvet doll dress, trimmed with crisp white lace and embroidered with pink buds, for one of my favorite dolls. The dress perfectly matched my own Christmas dress that year. Another year she made a beautiful doll bassinet out of a wicker basket, complete with mattress, pillows and hand-sewn blankets for one of my baby dolls. Imagine my happy Christmas morning!

I was one of four girls in my family, so our house was literally overflowing with dolls for years and years. Soft Holly Hobby Dolls in their cheery sunbonnets. Pudgy Kewpie Dolls with their big laughing eyes. Lovely Effanbee Dolls and Ginny Dolls with wonderful doll clothes. Inexpensive but oh-so-huggable baby dolls I saved for months and months to bring home to increase my always-growing doll family. There were stately china dolls and porcelain dolls that you had to handle with care, contrasting with the handmade rag dolls and Raggedy Anns that stood up well to rough and tumble times.

And then there were the Madame Alexander Dolls.

Perhaps no other kind of dolls in history have inspired the degree of love and admiration that Madame Alexanders have. The innocent, friendly faces and beautifully detailed clothing of Madame Alexander's dolls makes each one a true treasure. I felt so happy and elegant as a little girl playing with the 4 Little Women and Marmee, with Scarlet O'Hara and Betsy Ross, with Greece and Spain and Denmark. Over the years we collected a fair number of these charming dolls, but Madame Alexander dolls are like chocolates - you always want one more! My mother especially loved this heralded dollmaker's baby dolls, always remembering her own girlhood adoration of them. For generations, Madame Alexander has been making the dolls that deserve to be called "my favorite doll" by children around the world.

Today's most avid Doll Collectors all began with that first doll

Do you remember your first doll? Was it a hand-me-down gift to the new baby from an older sibling? A homemade rag doll from a loving aunt? A pink checked Lolly Dolly from the Five and Dime? Perhaps you may even be lucky enough to still have your first doll, or perhaps it is simply the love you felt for that first darling companion that has led to your grown-up delight in wonderful dolls. I want to celebrate that delight with you and I hope the pages of DollKind will help to bring back priceless memories, teach you new facts about fabulous dolls, and assist you in your search for that next special doll.

"Dolls are not like us; we are alive as soon as we are born, but dolls are not really alive until they are played with."
Rumer Godden - The Story of Holly and Ivy

Betsy McCall	Dolly Dingle / Campbell's Soup Kids	Ginny Doll
Holly Hobbie	Kewpie Doll	Lolly Dolly
Madame Alexander	Nancy Ann	Nesting Doll
Paper Dolls	Raggedy Ann	Return to DollKind Home