Summary

Female doll with a face made from a dried apple, shaped to look like an old woman. Museums Victoria also holds male apple doll made by the same person ( SH 99.129). The two objects form a set.

The doll was made by an 84 year old woman in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. It was made in the 1960s and is modelled on the type of dolls her mother made for her when she was a child in pioneer Nebraska in the 1880s.

This object is part of the Dorothy Howard Collection, gathered by eminent US folklorist and scholar Dr Dorothy Howard, who visited Australia as a Fulbright fellow in 1954-55 to document and research the folklore of Australian children. The Collection primarily contains documents, photographs and objects from Australia and the United States. It is now contained with the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), unique in Australia, documenting contemporary children's folklore across Australia and in other countries reaching back to the 1870s. The Collection has a strong component of research material relating to Victoria.

Physical Description

Doll with a face made from a dried apple, shaped to look like an old woman. The doll is clothed in a full length, long sleeved cotton dress with a brown floral pattern. It has a matching bonnet, tied with brown ribbon. A white apron with lace trim is tied over the dress. The doll's hair is made from cotton wool. The underclothes are white with lace trim. The clothing has been hand stitched. A small matching drawstring bag is stitched to the doll's arm.

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