African American Dolls and Their Connection to New Orleans

The United Federation of Doll Clubs (UFDC) held its 77th annual convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, in July 2026. I was asked to contribute an article to the convention journal, Past Present Future ~ Celebrating Dolls of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. 

I selected some of the finest dolls created by American artists that reflect the culture, music, religion, and cuisine of New Orleans for my article, "African American Dolls and Their Connection to New Orleans."

Click the play button below and take a brief glimpse of the article. 

An intriguing variety of Black dolls from the late 1800s through the first quarter of the twentieth century are found in Sharon B. Harbin's 7-page article, "French Dolls That Could Have Graced Bourbon Street." The article features dollmakers such as Bru, Étienne Denamur, Eden Bébé, François Gaultier, Jumeau, Lanternier, and S.F.B.J.

Robert Tonner discusses "The Future of Doll Making" in his article of the same name, which features "AI-generated concept visuals created to explore possible future directions in doll design and doll making." Where AI fits in, according to Tonner, "[it] is best described as a design assistant, not a creator... AI can speed up brainstorming and exploration, but taste, restraint, and emotional understanding remain firmly human responsibilities."

Bradley Justice Yarbrough's journal contribution, "Barbie: A Constant Evolution," highlights America's most popular mass-produced fashion doll through the decades. Barbie's existence, he writes, "reflects changes in fashion, design, trends, and popular culture."

The 2026 UFDC Convention souvenir journal includes several other informative articles as well as a Huret costume pattern.

The journals are always welcome additions to my doll-book collection. It is always an honor to be a contributing author to such a distinguished organization's publications.

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All photos and text are copyrighted and may not be used elsewhere without the author's permission.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
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Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, use the About page link, which is also visible in Web View mode; find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum (VBDM) for over 1000 curated installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls, and now featuring profiles of Black-doll collectors, artists, and other Black-doll contributors. 

Contact the curator through the VBDM contact page to have your Black-doll collector or artist profile featured on the museum website for up to 30 days.

AI Doll Images Part 2 of 4

AI imagery can bring dolls to life.

This is part two of a series on AI-generated doll images using my original doll photos to create social-media themes, change backgrounds, envision clothing and settings, and to enhance or correct photographs.  Using AI helps me accomplish things in minutes that would otherwise require learning skills and software that aren't part of my creative toolbox. With that said, the following photos were AI-enhanced or generated:

A rare 1950s hard plastic, flirty-eyed, head-turning walker made in Italy by Carlos Ottolini was placed in a 1950s living-area setting.

An original photo of tiny dolls was transformed into a photo of the same dolls in a daycare nursery.

An image of dolls playing with paper dolls in a bedroom setting was created using a group photo of the same dolls.

Rosemary Rock Flowers dolls were placed in an outdoor 1970s amphitheater rock concert.

I used the next two images to create 500-piece puzzles for a friend:

Completely AI-generated based on a prompt, this little girl is in a 1960s bedroom setting playing with paper dolls as a doll companion looks on.

Another AI prompt-generated image illustrates a girl wearing a purple dress in a 1960s living-room setting enjoying paper dolls as Saturday morning cartoons are televised. She is accompanied by a 1960s baby doll.

After the death of Rob Base, the following AI image was generated using a photo of two XOXO! Basix dolls:

This image was created in honor of Rob Base (May 18, 1967 - May 22, 2026), who was known for the 1988 hit "It Takes Two".

A one-of-a-kind Robert Zacher doll holding an unmarked OOAK doll that holds a doll was placed in a comfy modern bedroom setting where a group of AI-generated dolls was placed on the bed and bookshelf.

From an original picture of the "For the Love of Country" doll by Lee Middleton, this 2026 Memorial Day tribute was created.

Except for the images of two girls playing with paper dolls that were used to create two puzzles, all images originated from actual doll photos taken by me. Given very detailed written instructions (prompts), AI was used as a powerful editing tool. These images would have been impossible for AI to create without human creativity.

See part 1 in this series here.

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All photos and text are copyrighted and may not be used elsewhere without the author's permission.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, use the About page link, which is also visible in Web View mode; find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum (VBDM) for over 1000 curated installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls, and now featuring profiles of Black-doll collectors, artists, and other Black-doll contributors. 

Contact the curator through the VBDM contact page to have your Black-doll collector or artist profile featured on the museum website for up to 30 days.

AI Doll Images Part 1 of 4

AI imagery can bring dolls to life.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be useful in many ways. I use it for general information. It's a next-level Google, but I always fact-check the information it provides by verifying its sources. 

It's been most useful for me in creating doll images that fit specific themes, topics, and celebrations to share across several social media platforms. This post and a few others will share doll images (in no certain theme or event order) that I've created over the past several months with AI, using real or AI-imagined dolls.

A headshot and full-view image of Bernard Ravca's 1940s portrait doll of Joe Louis "the Brown Bomber," were placed in a WWII setting in tribute to Louis's military service. This one-of-a-kind doll was also my favorite doll purchase of 2025.

Made of hard plastic in England for the British market, this 1950s 12-inch Rosebud Baby was placed in a 1950s nursery room setting.

Fashion dolls gather to read books.

Younger dolls in a library setting are engaged by the books they read.

Reliable's 30-inch 1961 "Coloured" Nurse Walking Doll was placed in a 1960s bedroom setting.

Mia dolls by Nines d'Onil were placed in a cozy home setting.

Playpals and other walker dolls enjoy the outside in a playground setting.

Nines d'Onil's Pippa enjoys being outdoors on a perfect spring day.

Adora's Jada was redressed by AI and placed in an "earthy" setting to celebrate Earth Day 2026 on April 22nd.

 

Joe Louis, Rosebud, the Coloured Nurse Walking Doll, the Nines d'Onil dolls, Patti Playpals, and "Earth Day" Jada images were created using photos of dolls from my collection. The other images were AI-generated responses based on prompt directives.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and may not be used elsewhere without the author's permission.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, use the About page link, which is also visible in Web View mode; find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum (VBDM) for over 1000 curated installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls, and now featuring profiles of Black-doll collectors, artists, and other Black-doll contributors. 

Contact the curator through the VBDM contact page to have your Black-doll collector or artist profile featured on the museum website for up to 30 days.