The United Nations and doll collecting
Dolls from L-R Croatia, Macedonia, Macedonia and Serbia |
At its New York head quarters the United Nations Gift Centre sold , amongst other things, an array of dolls from around the world. Noted American artist Evelyn Curro did a series of illustrations for postcards which advertised dolls available via mail order from the Gift Centre and these included dolls from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ronnaug Pettersen dolls from Norway and Japanese dolls. Dolls from Yugoslavia were also available. I have a couple of dolls that have tags indicating they were from the UN Gift Centre. The record cover above of Melodies and Folk Songs by the Yugoslav Children's Choir of Radio Zagreb features four Yugoslavian folk dolls and notes they were from the United Nations Gift Centre.
Evelyn Curro postcard |
Evelyn Curro postcard detail Polish dolls |
In 1965 Fearn Brown published a book called Dolls of the United Nations. Featuring a doll from every country in the UN at that time along with accompanying details about the country , the work stemmed from Brown's belief that dolls could act as a visual aid to
further better world-understanding of peoples, their culture, costumes and customs.*
The entry for Yugoslavia features Danica from Bosnia who is a Narodna Radinost doll of the type depicted below.
She is a great quality 8" doll with some wonderful hand embroidered stitching on her sleeves and a lovely woven apron trimmed with black tassels.
Bosnia |
In the process of collecting Yugoslavian folk dolls and reading widely about folk costume in Southeastern Europe I have come to particularly appreciate the skill and capacity of generations of women. Women who made the textiles and costumes and the women who worked in the home and factories to make the dolls we collect today.
* Fearn Brown 1965 Dolls of the United Nations pg 13
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