$6,500
Sold
sold
Click image to enlarge
Description
8" (46 cm.) Each of 32 dolls has plaster sculpted
head with elegant pose,painted facial
features,mohair wig,wire skirt form with muslin
cover forming the lower body and legs,wire
armature upper arms,bisque or plaster hands. Each
of the dolls is costumed uniquely to represent a
different historical person. Condition: very
good,some fading of costumes. Comments: A
collection of 300 dolls were created and costumed
by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt of Chicago and were
exhibited at the Century of Progress International
Exhibition (World's Fair) in Chicago in 1933; the
dolls represented 400 outstanding women of the
world and were dressed in well-researched
authentic costumes of their period. At the age of
20 Minna Schmidt had left her native Germany and
immigrated to America in 1886 as a servant to a
family for wages of $3.00 per week. Her skills and
industry flourished and she became notable for her
needlework and costuming skills,eventually owning
a costume business in Chicago. Later she wrote,"It
is one thing to become happy,it is another thing
to keep happy. The latter is mastery and is best
conserved by keeping busy at the useful things one
likes to do". After their 1933 exhibition at the
World's Fair,the dolls traveled to other
exhibition sites,and were eventually dispersed
into private collections. This group of 32 dolls
is one of those private collections,and includes
outstanding women from 15 different countries.
Included with the collection is a 583 page book
written by Minna Schmidt detailing the dolls,with
a biographical sketch of the person each doll
represented,photographs of the groups of dolls as
they were original shown at the World's Fair,and
also including a fascinating auto-biographical
chapter detailing her childhood in southern
Germany,her decision to come to American to seek a
new life,and her early 20th century life in the
new country. Value Points: a valuable historical
document not only of the uniquely costumed
dolls,but also of Minna Schmidt's early 20th
century classic tale of "coming to America".