On Thursday April 19,2012 there was a presentation showing various types and styles of Native American dolls at the Chenango County Historical Society meeting. We explored a bit of American history and we found that dolls were more than playthings and more than objects that collected dust.
Did you ever think about getting into a time capsule and going back through time? Doll collecting can do this for you. Whether you collect dolls from the Victorian age or action figures of the 20th and 21st century, one can glean information from a bygone era. Investigate dolls and become involved not only in history but in geography, ethnology, anthropology, crafts, and interacting with other collectors.
People collect dolls for various reasons. Reasons include souvenirs from vacation, dolls for investment, or because a particular doll struck their fancy.
Native American lore and culture have fascinated people for years, so collecting Native American dolls evolved from this. Media has portrayed Native Americans as savages, a dying and noble race, romantic and in tune with the environment. As such, when Disney promoted the film Pocahontas, Pocahontas dolls became popular. Native American dolls also became popular after the movies Dances with Wolves, Windtalker, and The Last of the Mohicans.
Native American dolls can also be subdivided into categories such as souvenir dolls, handmade dolls, native crafted dolls, action figures and dolls by a particular company.
Each category has a story. Some Native American dolls speak of religion and teaching, such as the Kachina dolls, some tell of tribal tradition and some tell of historical progression of a company.
All this and more were covered during the presentation.
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