World's Fair dolls

Bosnia and Herzegovina 1959

I am always interested in where my dolls have come from and the route they took from Yugoslavia to my door, both for interest sake and because it is helpful to me in locating further dolls. The Narodna Radinost dolls spread around the globe via doll companies such as Kimport and Mark Farmer, by immigrants and tourists and also importantly via trade and world's fairs. 

World's fairs, otherwise known as international expositions or exhibitions, provided opportunities for countries to showcase their culture, science and industry via pavilions. Usually lasting for extended periods of time and involving the building of substantial infrastructure, the fairs also included entertainment, food and souvenirs. Attracting huge crowds from around the globe we know the McKims of the Kimport Doll Company visited the exposition held in Paris in 1931 and were captivated by the foreign dolls on display. *

I first began thinking about world's fairs as they related to my collecting after purchasing the doll shown above wearing a folk costume from Bosnia and Herzegovina. She came with a label indicating she was acquired from the Oregon Centennial Exposition an International Trade Fair held in 1959 to commemorate 100 years of statehood.  Held over 4 four months in Portland, Oregon, the exposition  drew almost 1.5 million visitors to the exhibits from an array of government and private organisations, counties of Oregon and 22 foreign countries.**                                                                                                                                                                                               

After some research I established the Jugo Export Company of Yugoslavia was present at the American fairs in 1962 in Seattle, in 1964 in New York and in 1967 in Montreal, Canada. The Jugo Export Company, based in Belgrade, was a Yugoslav trade agency which had substantial dealings with the USA during the 1960s and was responsible for bringing the majority of Narodna Radinost dolls into the US market.

The Yugoslavian pavillion at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 is described in a local newspaper as a "rustic replica of a 17th century mountain cabin using 100 year - old pine wood shipped from Yugoslavia." *** Here people could buy furniture, musical instruments, wooden handicraft items such as nutcrackers and shepherds cups, and of course dolls. Below is a newspaper photo of a young woman from Yugoslavia who had come to study in Seattle. She is at the Yugoslav export building at the World's Fair holding an 8 inch Narodna Radinost doll wearing a folk costume from Macedonia.

Seattle Times April 17 1969 

* Loretta Nardone Kimport Dolls from the Whole Wide World  UFDC Fall  2015 p 

** oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/centennial_exposition_of_1959/#.WzGWJ1UzbIU

***Seattle Times April 17 1962 p3