Dolls from Massapequa, NY

Massapequa, New York courtesy of Google

A kind woman tasked with rehoming a doll collection shared the first two doll photos below after asking me by email if I had an interest in the photographed dolls. I did and the dolls were sent from a Massapequa, NY return address within a few weeks.

Rosa's Character Dolls, Uncle Bill Cornelius and Southern Mammy: Magnolia, c. late 1940s-early 1950s

Jamaica souvenir dolls include two women and a man.

I knew Massapequa must have Native American roots, so I googled Massapequa and found the following Wikipedia entry:

Massapequa (/ˌmæsəˈpiːkwə/, mass-ə-PEEK-wə) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Massapequa area. The population of the CDP was 21,685 at the time of the 2010 census.

The Greater Massapequa area, which includes the nearby CDPs of North Massapequa and East Massapequa, as well as the incorporated village of Massapequa Park, has a combined population of over 75,000.

A 19th-century writer identified Massapequa as one of the "13 tribes of Long Island," but additional research has shown that they were a band of Lenape, the Algonquian-speaking people who occupied the western part of the island at the time of European encounter. The bands were identified by names of the geographic areas they occupied.

In addition to the dolls shared in the sender's photographs, souvenir dolls from Ecuador, Ethiopia, and a doll that appears to represent a Fulani tribeswoman were included in the package. 

The original owner possibly traveled to these places throughout her life during the '40s through '70s and/or purchased some dolls at auctions and from gift shops. 

I wanted the two Rosa's Character Dolls more than the others to add to my Virtual Black Doll Museum installation of May 2021*, but I was pleased to receive the extras. My photos of the dolls and captions follow. 

My Photos

Rosa's Character Dolls Uncle Bill Cornelius and Southern Mammy: Magnolia are part of the artist's 2nd or 3rd generation of dolls made when the facial features were crudely sculpted. The 1st generation dolls have better defined facial features.

The above two dolls' backstories are typewritten and attached to the bottom of their wooden bases as illustrated next:

Uncle Bill Cornelius' back story

Magnolia's backstory

Jamaica souvenir dolls—the two women have baskets of paper fruit attached to their heads.

Ecuador Souvenir Doll: 6-1/2 inch nuthead doll with arms, body, legs, and feet made of round shells; has an attached hat made of gourds and carries a decorated carved gourd on its back attached with twine. Holds a walking stick and stands on an attached wooden base.

The handwritten hangtag reads: Ecuador, shells, nuts, and gourd / Purchased July 30, 1973 / Grand Lake, Colorado $3.15

The Ecuador souvenir doll's gourd has painted crosses or X's around the top.

Ethiopia Souvenir Doll: 10-1/2-inch doll with sculpted plaster face, painted facial features, black felt hair glued to the head, wears a head scarf or netela, and a full-length traditional Ethiopian white cotton dress with embroidered accents and white plaster shoes.

Facial close-up of the Ethiopian woman souvenir doll

Based on the inverted cone-shaped straw hat, this 10-inch doll appears to represent a Fulani tribeswoman.

The handmade cloth Fulani souvenir doll has leather eyes and mouth, no hair, wears an inverted cone-shaped basket hat, a blue cotton floral-print dress, and a full-length blue and black wool cape attached with a fringe of beads on a safety pin.

Close-up of the Fulani doll

A view from the back of the Fulani doll.

Thank you again, MB of Massapequa, NY, for this interesting gift of dolls.

*The addition of Rosa's Character Dolls to the May 12, 2021, Virtual Black Doll Museum installation can be read here. 

©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, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!