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| Established | 1988 |
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| Location | 2253 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Coordinates | 39°59′16″N75°09′20″W / 39.98766°N 75.15567°W |
| Director | Barbara Whiteman |
The Philadelphia Doll Museum is located in Philadelphia at 2253 North Broad Street along the Avenue of the Arts. [1] It is the only known museum in the United States that emphasizes the collection and preservation of black dolls as artifacts of history and culture. [1] [2]
The museum was founded by Barbara Whiteman in 1988. [3] She is an avid collector of black dolls, and a believer in researching and preserving black history. [3] Whiteman says that the dolls she has collected are “more than play objects or toys; these Black dolls symbolize the struggle for freedom and human dignity. Each doll has a message of truth and strength that is important to the psychological and sociological development of Black people. Collectively, they present visual images of how Black people were perceived throughout world history.” [4]
The museum has over 300 dolls on display with a permanent collection of approximately 1,000 dolls. [2] The dolls include documentation and stories about how black people have been perceived throughout history [1] and range in size from small figurines to full-size figures. [5]
The Philadelphia Doll Show is the main event of the Philadelphia Doll Museum, used to bring doll collectors, in particular black doll collectors, together with doll makers in order to create a market and place value on black dolls. [6]
The Museum offers lectures on the history of black dolls, and the black doll as a teaching tool. It also offers workshops in paper doll making and clothes pin doll making for children. Cloth doll making workshops for adults are also available. Additionally, the museum is an informal adult doll club for doll collectors and makers. [7] [8]
The museum was mentioned in Doll Reader's Top 10 Museums Worth a Visit in August 2011. [2] The museum offers a comprehensive look at the evolution of black dolls.
Barbara Whiteman is the founder and executive director of the Philadelphia Doll Museum. [4] She developed her collection by studying Black history and culture. [4] She travels across the country lecturing and presenting her collection. [4] She says that these Black dolls are "More than play objects or toys, these Black dolls symbolize the struggle for freedom and human dignity. Each doll has a message of truth and strength that is important to the psychological and sociological development of Black people. Collectively, they present visual images of how Black people were perceived throughout world history.”
The Philadelphia Doll Museum also serves as a meeting place for workshops about paper and clothes pin doll making for schools, churches, and cultural organizations. [9] It also hosts lectures for the community about the history of black dolls, and the black doll as a teaching mechanism. [9] Additionally, the Philadelphia Doll Museum hosts the Philadelphia Doll Society, which is an informal adult doll club for doll collectors and doll makers. [9]
Ruth Marianna Handler was an American businesswoman and inventor. Best known for inventing the Barbie doll in 1959, she served as the first president of toy manufacturer Mattel, Inc., which she co-founded with her husband in January 1945 until 1974 when the Handlers were forced to resign from Mattel, and in 1978 Ruth Handler was convicted of false reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Despina Pappa-Paschalidou was a Greek doll maker.
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Marita Dingus is an African-American artist who works in multimedia, using found objects.
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Letterform Archive is a non-profit museum and special collections library in San Francisco, California dedicated to collecting materials on the history of lettering, typography, printing, and graphic design. It is curated by graphic designer Rob Saunders, who founded the museum with his private collection of "books, periodicals, maquettes, posters, and other ephemera" in 2014. The museum opened in February 2015 with 15,000 items. It moved to a larger space in 2020. Visits can be scheduled by appointment.
Emily Floyd is an Australian artist working in public art, sculpture and print making. Her family were toy makers in traditional European styles — carefully crafted of wood. She learned the skills and use of machinery, which are reflected and used in many of her sculptural works. She has been commissioned to produce multiple public art sculptures in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.
Jeanne Jaffe is an American multidisciplinary artist known for her sculpture and installations.
Joyce Anderson was an American furniture designer and woodworker. Anderson is known for her professional partnership with her husband, Edgar M. Anderson. Together, their works in wood are regarded as early examples of the American Craft movement, specifically for the state of New Jersey. Anderson was one of the first professional female woodworkers in the United States.
Shervone Neckles is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and community worker. Her work draws inspiration from the duality and transitional nature of her Afro-Grenadian-American identity. Neckles’ practice combines mixed media techniques of printmaking, textiles, book arts, sculpture, installation, and social investigations to further explore concepts of past and present-day colonialism, notions of provenance as it relates to origin, authorship and ownership.
Eva Lois Allmon Evans was an American educator based in Lansing, Michigan, and the 24th international president of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2005.
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Linn Underhill was an American photographer and professor. Underhill was best known for work that challenged cultural and societal conventions of gender identity and sexuality. Her work was considered innovative in its portrayal of women and aging.
Emily Wardman was a British collector and founder of a private museum of social history, now part of the collections of Leeds Museums and Galleries.
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