Notice Anyone Missing?
A lesser-known history of paper dolls traces the lineage of dolls representing people of color, particularly that of Black paper dolls in the United States. While our collection exemplifies exclusionary, Eurocentric standards for beauty in the 1940s, post-civil rights gains saw an influx of Black and integrated paper dolls books that ditched old stereotypes.
Click the button below to view Two Hundred Years of Black Paper Dolls: The Arabella Grayson Collection, an online exhibition that unearths the history of Black paper dolls from symbols of oppression to a means of empowerment.
We Can Do It!
Posters were used as part of the war effort to sell bonds, encourage silence, and recruit women and men alike to join the military or the workforce to support the troops overseas. These posters are a small sample housed in the collection of the Library of Congress. Click below to explore additional posters and archives from the 1940s-1950s.
Bibliography
Grayson, A. (2009). History. Two Hundred Years of Black Paper Dolls: The Arabella Grayson Collection. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://arabellagrayson.com
History of paper dolls and popular culture. National Women's History Museum. (2016, November 20). Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/history-paper-dolls-and-popular-culture#:~:text=Paper%20dolls%20were%20popular%20playthings,books%2C%20magazines%2C%20and%20cards
Johnson, J. M. (1999). History of Paper Dolls. OPDAG: The Original Paper Doll Artist's Guild. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.opdag.com/history.html
Martin, K. (2020). It’s Your War, Too: Women in World War II. The National WWII Museum: New Orleans. Accessed October 5, 2022, from https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/its-your-war-too-women-world-war-ii