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American Material Culture Commons

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Full-Text Articles in American Material Culture

America Through Rose-Colored Glasses: How American Girl Dolls Shape American Girlhood And Identity, Kelly M. Vaughan Apr 2017

America Through Rose-Colored Glasses: How American Girl Dolls Shape American Girlhood And Identity, Kelly M. Vaughan

Senior Theses and Projects

This thesis examines the contributions that American Girl dolls make to the development of girlhood, as well as doll and toy culture. I argue that the BeForever collection of historically centered dolls both informs consumers of United States history while instructing them of what it means to be a wholesome, virtuous girl. American Girl provides timeless stories about overcoming hardship in various periods of U.S. history while utilizing common themes in children’s literature to construct an attractive narrative. These dolls and their stories contribute to consumers’ understanding of girlhood, their sense of self, and broad comprehension of history. Recent developments …


A List Of Racialized Black Dolls: 1850-1940, Anthony F. Martin Jan 2016

A List Of Racialized Black Dolls: 1850-1940, Anthony F. Martin

African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter

Between 1850 and 1940 Black racialized dolls made in Europe and the northern United States saturated the marketplace with the peak years in the 1920s. These dolls were advertised with pejorative names and descriptions that typed cast African Americans as domestics and labors on mythical antebellum landscapes assisted White children in shaping Black people as inferior to Whites. Data mining doll encyclopedias, websites, and catalogs, I have compiled a list of Black racialized dolls. Additionally, I have provided advertisements of positive imagine Black dolls from The Crisis and The Negro World that provided a counterweight to the stereotyped dolls.


Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 39, No. 4, Theresa G. Saul, John L. Dochter, Henry Berkowitz, Linda Berkowitz, John Marshall, Shirley Marshall, Joseph L. Tognoli, Michael W. Rhode, Constantine Kermes, Judy Sweetland, Robert Legge, Kenelm Winslow Iii, Barry Mcfarland, Matthew Vardjan, Elaine Vardjan, John E. Stinsmen, Mark R. Eaby Jr. Jul 1990

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 39, No. 4, Theresa G. Saul, John L. Dochter, Henry Berkowitz, Linda Berkowitz, John Marshall, Shirley Marshall, Joseph L. Tognoli, Michael W. Rhode, Constantine Kermes, Judy Sweetland, Robert Legge, Kenelm Winslow Iii, Barry Mcfarland, Matthew Vardjan, Elaine Vardjan, John E. Stinsmen, Mark R. Eaby Jr.

Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine

• Our Church
• Pig Roast
• Wooden Jointed Dolls
• Coal Jewelry
• The Pennsylvania Long Rifle
• The Mennonites
• Festival Focus
• Festival Programs
• Blockprinting
• Dried Flowers, Wreaths and Baskets
• Broom Making
• Wood-Turning
• Moravian and German Stars
• A Plain Costume Primer
• Farewell to the Folk Festival Magazine


Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 15, No. 3, Earl F. Robacker, Frank Brown, Don Yoder, Amos Long Jr., Marion Ball Wilson, Fritz Braun Apr 1966

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 15, No. 3, Earl F. Robacker, Frank Brown, Don Yoder, Amos Long Jr., Marion Ball Wilson, Fritz Braun

Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine

• Stitching for Pretty
• New Light on "Mountain Mary"
• The Newspaper and Folklife Studies
• Pennsylvania Limekilns
• Mennonite Maids
• The Eighteenth-Century Emigration from the Palatinate: New Documentation