A Child's Doll, Gifted Twice

The former childhood doll of Ellen Gordon was a c. 1965 Christmas gift from Ellen's sister.

Meet Elle. She is a 14-inch handmade cloth doll that was the former childhood doll of Ellen Gordon. Ellen sent me the following message through Facebook Messenger, which outlines the doll's history and how "Elle" (the doll's new name) became part of my personal collection. With Ellen's permission, I am allowed to share the pertinent parts of our messages.

Hi, Debbie! Been enjoying your posts for a couple of years now. Quick question - would you have any interest in a handmade doll made c. 1965? My sister sewed it for me when I was little. She's not a sophisticated and detailed beauty, like many of the beautiful dolls you post, but I think she has her own charm.

And she's reflective of an exciting and (sadly) unjustifiably optimistic time in history when we thought things were changing rapidly and irreversibly. Black dolls were really not available then, and one Christmas my sister decided to address that shortage with her gift to me.

…I am downsizing to move, and feel it's time to let go of my dolls - LOL! She was much loved, and I'd be thrilled if she could find a home with someone who would enjoy having her.

(Of course, I accepted the offer, but I informed Ellen that I would need to redress the doll before installing it in DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum.) In hindsight, redressing the doll was not really necessary because of the sentiment the doll holds, but that has been done, and I enjoyed every second of thought that went into completing the redressing task.

My Reply:

Hi Ellen. Thank you for letting me know you've enjoyed my posts. I love the background story about the doll your sister so lovingly made for you. I would love to accept her, even though I am also in the process of downsizing. If I accept her for the museum, I'd have to dress her. If you don't mind my doing that, let me know. Did you name her?

Ellen’s reply:

OH, I'm so glad! It means a lot to me that she will have a good home, and others can enjoy her.

Good luck with your downsizing - it's a TON of work…

As to this doll's back story… when I was a child I thought (I suppose like all children) that most families were like mine. Later I realized how wrong I was.

I have to laugh a little at how stereotypical we were in some ways of mid-century liberal progressive Jewish families, but I am very grateful to my parents for ensuring we were raised with an awareness of a larger world.

My parents were both products of the radical Eastern European Jewish of the '20s and '30s. They were extremely vested in the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement, the protest against atomic testing (and the resulting Strontium 90 in cow's milk), etc. I attended my first march against the Viet Nam war in my stroller. I remember helping my mother make protest signs for other actions when I was about 4 or 5…

Anyway, I guess my fondness for this doll relates to her connection with an optimistic and energizing time, when it seemed that tremendous progress was being made (and indeed it was), and radical social transformation was just around the corner (sadly, it wasn't).

Plus she's very sweet - I think my sister (about 13 or 14 at the time) did a really good job embroidering her face!

I'd be thrilled to have you dress her properly - I have no idea where her clothes vanished to. She will arrive in the panties (I think also handmade by my sister for her) and vintage doll sweater and socks (not original to her) that she has lived in for the past 55 years.

And, sadly, as I sit here and look at the line up of my beloved childhood toys - about a dozen dolls and bears I've kept all these years - it disturbs me that I cannot remember ANY of their names. That seems odd to me, but maybe not. Each of them had an imagined personality, a soul, to me, and I remember those, which I suppose are more important than their names.

Am I a crazy old lady? Perhaps! But I'm delighted for this doll to have a new home!

Just let me know where to send her, and I'll ship early next week. Thank you SO much! And thank you for the important (and fun!) work you have done in assembling such a wealth of historic dolls and information on them.

Elle's Redressing

After Elle arrived, redressing ensued, was completed, and photographs were taken for this blog post and for DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum. 

Elle was redressed in a floral-print pink dress and white lacey ankle socks. I added two pink ribbons to her hair.  She insisted on keeping on her handmade red silk panties, which I gladly permitted.

This close-up of Elle's lovely embroidered face illustrates her continued happy disposition.

There was no question that Elle would continue wearing the vintage pink sweater. The charming sweater is the reason the pink dress was chosen for her.

Elle's redressing was completed with the addition of white patent leather shoes.

I am thrilled to have Elle in my collection and as a permanent installation in DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum even though as Ellen wrote, “She's not a sophisticated and detailed beauty, like many of the beautiful dolls you post, but I think she has her own charm.” I concur wholeheartedly.  

Thank you again, Ellen, for your willingness to part with Elle and for choosing me as her new human. She is truly a special gift that represents the important roles childhood dolls play as comforters, companions, confidantes, and secret keepers for the humans (young and old) who own them.

After 6 a.m. CST on 11/3/23, view/read Elle’s museum installation here.

 

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

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

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