Intricate craftsmanship is a hallmark of the exhibit’s Black dolls, some made with fine materials, others with scraps of cloth.
National Museum of Toys and Miniatures exhibit examines the little-known history of Black dolls
There are many pinnacles of a young person’s childhood — learning how to ride a bike, your first sport, making your first friend, losing a tooth — but nothing quite compares to your first doll. Dolls signify more than a companion for young children. For some, it’s their first time learning how to genuinely care for someone other than themselves, to express individuality and consider cultural representation.
Dolls have been around for centuries, the earliest ones dating from 2,000 to 3,000 B.C. Throughout history, they’ve changed drastically, mimicking the time periods of the people who make them. The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures wants to shed light on the dolls of Black children and bring forth their little-known history. The exhibit “Portraits of Childhood: Black Dolls from the Collection of Deborah Neff” takes an important step in this direction through its display of 135 handmade Black dolls dating from 1850 to 1940, as well as dolls from the 21st century and ambitious accompanying programs.
The intricate craftsmanship of the dolls is what drew Neff to amass this collection. “My attraction to figures and textiles led me first to handmade dolls in general. I quickly developed a respect for the ingenuity and resourcefulness of ordinary people who could create expressive dolls out of materials readily available in their regular lives,” she said.
“It wasn’t long before I began to notice that handmade Black dolls of the 19th and early 20th centuries embodied the best of this tradition, regularly crossing the boundary from craft to art in accomplished portrayals of ordinary souls. That artistic expression in that historical context is alone enough to awaken my emotional attention.”
During the period covered by the collection, slavery was prevalent, but despite the horror of those times, the dollmakers turned sorrow into beauty through the intricate craftsmanship of these dolls. Some were made with fine materials, others with scraps of cloth.
Walking through the exhibition, the viewer is instantly taken back to the historical context of the time, feeling both the joy and pain of the dollmakers. The crafters paid special attention to the materials they used to showcase Black hair texture, skin tone and facial features. This advanced craftsmanship brought these dolls fully to life as a means of conveying their makers’ feelings and experiences during this time.
“We want the audience to appreciate the ingenuity, craftsmanship, and emotional appeal of the dolls,” exhibit organizers Amy McKune, curator/senior manager of collections, and Madeline Rislow, curator/senior manager of learning and engagement, said in a written statement. “We also hope visitors come away with greater understanding of African American history through the material culture of the period. Each object was made by someone, held by someone, meant something to someone. These objects convey history that can provide starting points for conversation about identity and human connections today. They focus our attention on traditionally marginalized and untold stories and encourage us to critically engage in history in new ways.”
It was important to Neff that the exhibit have a research component, as there is still so much to learn about these dolls in terms of their meaning, the audience at the time of their creation, and their significance to subsequent generations. Because of this, the museum designed the exhibition to be a learning lab. Faculty and students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City were invited to share their personal testimonies and encouraged to engage with themes of race, gender and identity, with the Black dolls serving as the starting point for these discussions.
“Our goal of using the exhibition as a learning lab is to advance the scholarship on Black dolls,” the curators wrote. “The lack of the specific records for individual Black dolls have meant these dolls’ stories, and the stories of African Americans in general, have been underrepresented in research. We hope to make a positive change by focusing on the history of Black dolls specifically in this exhibit, programming and publication.”
The programming around the exhibition is designed to engage audiences multiple times and from varied perspectives, through Lunch and Learn events hosted by community members, national speaker events, and a symposium in February 2025 to advance education about the handmade Black dolls and the role they played in Black history and culture. The museum plans to publish a book of the best research that comes out of these events to preserve and document the learning that goes on during the exhibit and encourage further discussion.
The exhibition will continue through March 2025, an eight-month run that will “allow time for reflections, thoughtful analysis, and growth in the education about handmade Black dolls and their place in history,” the curators said.
“Portraits of Childhood: Black Dolls from the Collection of Deborah Neff” continues at The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, 5235 Oak St., through March 3, 2025. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Monday. For tickets and more information, including a timeline of African American history during this time period, toyandminiaturemuseum.org.
All images: Deborah Neff Collection, c.1850-1940, artists unknown, United States. photos: Ellen McDermott Photography, New York.
