Summary

Black and white photograph, depicting three dolls made by the L.J. Sterne Doll Company, taken in 1950.

This photograph relates to products and promotions of the L.J. Sterne Doll Company (1939-1971), a Melbourne doll and toy manufacturer founded by Austrian migrants Leo and Hilda Sterne.

Description of Content

Three dolls in a row - from left to right: Mandy, a little girl doll with dark skin and hair. She is wearing a knee-length dress with striped sleeves and skirt, white socks and black lace-up shoes, and has a gingham hair scarf. Baby Susie, a baby doll with pale skin and hair, which is molded. She is dressed in a long white christening dress and bonnet. Lu-Lu, a little girl doll with dark skin and hair. She is wearing a knee-length gingham dress, white socks, shoes and hair scarf. Each of the dolls' names have been written below them. Above Baby Susie's head is the L.J. Sterne Company logo, with the date 1950.

Physical Description

Black and white photograph.

Significance

This item is part of a growing collection of material relating to the migration and settlement experiences of Leo and Hilda Sterne who arrived in Melbourne in 1939. They immediately established a business that became one of the most successful doll and toy manufacturers in post-war Melbourne.
The L.J. Sterne Doll Company (1939-71) is significant as one of the few surviving collections related to an Australian toy and doll manufacturer, a once thriving industry in Australia. Only the A.L. Lindsay and Co. Archive at the Powerhouse Museum and the Jakas Toy collection at Melbourne Victoria are comparable.
This collection of photographs, business and promotional documents, dolls, and toys enables the exploration of many Australian post-war historical and social themes including: local television and manufacturing industries; design and production innovation; marketing and merchandising; childhood; gender and cultural representations; leisure and sport; key cultural and historical events.

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