This handout is meant to go with my Laura Ingalls Wilder doll presentation. It includes a summary paragraph, a timeline, and sources used in the presentation list.

1. Laura Ingalls Wilder: What a Doll!
Although dolls played a fairly small role in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life and
writings, they have taken on a major role in her fandom. The impulse to create dolls
of all sorts from the books was an impulse that began well within Laura’s lifetime.
Since then many dolls have been made specifically for fans. A Charlotte doll (made
to different designs at different times by all the homesites) is often the first non-
book piece of a Laura fan’s collection. Dolls of all sorts, both commercially mass
produced and art dolls, have been made of various members of the Ingalls and
Wilder families. By their diversity they show the variety of people who are fans and
the relative wealth assumed possessed by the people who collect them.
1850-1900 – Best wax dolls made by Montanari, Pierotti, and Marsh families in
France. Known for painstaking detail such as eyebrows of real hair.
1880s – China dolls made by 3 major china doll manufacturers. They all were in
Germany which had a very active doll and toy industry until the World Wars
blocked trade with other countries and starved them for markets. Makers
were Kestner “King of Dollmakers”, Armand Marseilles, and Kammer &
Reinhard. China head dolls most had commonly black hair with blue eyes, a
small number had brown eyes, none are known with black eyes as Laura
described. Black hair fired up the best and blue eyes supposedly were
standard as a tribute to Queen Victoria. Doll heads sold separately to be
made up at home or made up with calico bodies and china limbs.
1870s – Rag Dolls become popular in America.
1950s - Barbara Brooks dolls made.
1953 - Starling Almanzo and Laura doll set is made and exhibited around county
before ending up in Wright County Library.
1967 – Mansfield price list hickory nut dolls, Charlotte replicas
1970s - Harvey Hultquist figures were carved. Hultquist graduate of University of
Minnesota and opened House of Scandinavia in Black Hills as a seasonal gift
shop. He carved figurines during winter for the 33 years he and his wife
owned the shop. They were part of a series of Early American Characters
made up of approximately 20 figures. He also carved two sets with a cabin
background made from wood from Carrie’s house including the set on display
in Mansfield, Missouri Wilder Museum. The figures are carved of basswood.
1975 - Dorothy Nazarenus began to make Ingalls Family doll sets for the Laura
Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove. She’ll continue until 2008.
1978 - Knickerbocker Company produced 12 inch Laura and Carrie dolls
1990 - Madame Alexander unveiled a 14 inch Laura Ingalls Wilder doll with
varying outfits.
1995 - First Ashton Drake Laura doll was designed by award winning doll designer
Wendy Lawton as part of the "Little Girls of Classic Literature" series (all
produced in 1995, were Mary Lennox of The Secret Garden, Rebecca of

2. Sunnybrook Farm, and Pollyanna). The Ingalls family series of Ashton Drake
dolls also began in 1995.
1997 - June Hawley’s lifesize Ingalls Family dolls go on permanent display at the
Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum in Burr Oak, Iowa after her death.
1998 - An artist “Half-Pint” doll of Laura is used as a plot point on Guiding Light.
2016 – Queen’s Treasures releases a 18-inch American Girl style Laura.
Case, Nancy Humphrey. “The gentle lessons of dolls.” Christian Science Monitor. 13
November 2001: 22. Academic Search Elite EBSCOhost. Kirkwood
Community Coll. Lib., Cedar Rapids, IA 24 January 2009.
Cleaver, Joanne. “’Little House’ Saga: Watch Out for Laura on Steroids.”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 11 February 2007: J6. ProQuest Newspapers,
Platinum Periodicals. Kirkwood Community Coll. Lib., Cedar Rapids, IA. 31
March 2007. http://proquest.umi.com
Hultquist, Charles. E-mail to Author. 12 December 2011.
Hultquist, Harvey. Letter to Author. 28 November 2008.
Hupp, Doris. “Woman’s Day of Dictionary of Dolls.” Woman’s Day. January 1965:
23-34.
“Over 37 Years of Dolls.” Friends of the Museum Newsletter Fall/Winter 2007: 4.
Spindler, Elizabeth. “Librarians Call on Laura Ingalls Wilder” Ozarks Mountaineer
July 1953: 7.
“Texas County’s Doll Lady” Springfield Leader. 3 May 1953: 2
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Letter to Miss Webber.2 Jan. 1943.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Letter to Children of Roosevelt School. 6 April 1949.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Letter to Miss Webber.12 May 1950.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Letter to Miss Webber. 9 January 1951.
National Laura Ingalls Wilder Conference - Sarah S. Uthoff, July 2012
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