1870-1890 american cloth columbian doll

Emma Adams Columbian Doll

The Columbian dolls were created in 1891 by Emma Adams. Emma, a portrait painter, painted the faces, hands and feet of the
flat faced cloth dolls. Dolls were primarily white but there were a few black dolls made. Eyes were either blue or brown.
Bodies were cotton or excelsior stuffed over a sawdust core. The dolls were available in 15", 19", 23" or 29" sizes for $1.50 to
$5.00 depending upon size.

Susan Fosnot studied the painting of the dolls and noted that:

The face of the brown-eyed doll I examined was painted with only two colors, plus black and white. A third color was

added for the blonde hair.

The two colors are Burnt Sienna, a burnt orange color, and Rose Madder, a warm red. These two colors added to white

create all the delicate pinks of the complexion, as well as the lips and cheeks. I found it interesting that the complexion

colors did not match doll to doll, and the extra limbs in Diane’s collection also did not match. This shows that the colors

were mixed in small batches, and not purchased premixed. Burnt Sienna with a little black was used for the line work and

shading, as well as the brown of the eyes. Black was used for the pupils. Yellow Ochre was used for the blonde hair, with

the other colors mixed in for variety.

Her style of painting can be classified as decorative, with a reliance on expert brushwork. All the features are described by

elegantly curved lines. There are no clumsy lines in her work. Note the iris of the eye. It is created with one expert tightly

curved brushstroke. The eyebrows each are one stroke. Her portrait painting ability shows in the proportions of the face,

which are anatomically accurate for a young child. There is a subtle suggestion of a more complex and realistic face, yet

the face remains flat and simple—easy for a child to understand.

I found it very interesting that sometimes the whites of the eyes were not painted at all, but left unpainted for the ground

(primer) to show. If you look very closely, the white is a bit yellow, and you can see the woven texture of the fabric there.

Using the ground this way would leave a dry surface to paint the details of the eye. Even more interesting is that

sometimes the whites of the eye are painted. This indicated that Emma varied her methods.

Susan notes that while Emma's paints varied as she mixed her batches and there were variations in painting in each days work,
there were remarkable consistencies:

The Mouth: In over all shape, the lips are full and the mouth has a squarish appearance. The upper lip is wider and longer

than the lower lip, and overlaps it -— a feature of baby’s’ faces. The lower lip is almost rectangular. The upper lip

frequently, but not always, has a dip in the middle.

The Nose: Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Emma’s faces is the nose. The contours are very round. The nostrils

are small and close together. They are connected in a “Y” shape. The tail of the “Y” extends below the nose to indicate

the little pleat between nose and lips. The line never goes all the way to the lips. There are no lines to indicate a raised

bridge of the nose. The bridge of the nose is flattened on the faces of young children, making this omission a realistic

detail.

The Eyes: Eyes are almond shaped. There is no line above the eye indicating the upper eyelid. There are no eyelashes.

The iris is very round and large, as a child’s would be. The pupil is large and high inside the iris. The inside of the iris is

often lighter near the center, and there are highlights on either side of the pupil. A short diagonal line is at the corner of

each eye. I believe this indicates the little crease in the skin under the eye often seen in a baby’s face.

The Hair: The front of the hair makes good use of large brush strokes to indicate the texture. The back is more crudely

painted on the example I examined, and was probably finished by another person.

Emma's sister Marietta joined the company by designing and making the cotton clothing. The dresses were of pink or blue
gingham, or white. There was a boy's suit and a white baby gown as well. A few dolls were available in only a chemise.

The dolls were sold in toy shops in New York City and department stores such as Marshall Fields. As were so many painted
cloth dolls, they were advertised as washable. They were marked COLUMBIAN DOLL/EMMA ADAMS/OSWEGO CENTRE/N.
Y. but they were never patented. Some dolls are unmarked.

The dolls developed the name "Columbian" in 1893 when they won a Diploma of Merit at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago,
Ill. Mrs. E. R. Horton of Boston, Mass arranged a world good will tour of dolls with proceeds for children's charities. ‘Columbia’
is the female personification of the United States, as ‘Britannia’ is for Great Britain. She was accompanied by her trunk, diary,
coat and bonnet and also her double. Just in case anything happened to her, a second, almost identical, doll travelled with
her. After several years of travel around the U.S. and the world, the dolls returned to Boston with press clippings and
souvenirs of their trip. The dolls currently reside in the Wenham Museum in Massachusetts.

Tiny Ambassadors With a Mission by Bob Brooke notes this trip:

Elizabeth Horton and Her Collection

Permanently displayed in the Osgood Gallery of the Museum is the International Doll Collection (IDC), the original nucleus

of the Museum's doll collection. Donated in 1922 by Elizabeth Richards Horton, a former resident of the Claflin-Richards

House, which is now part of the museum, the IDC is the oldest continuously held doll collection in the world, containing a

variety of exceptional examples. The collection is one of few in the world to remain intact for over 100 years, containing all

original clothing and documentation.

Horton was the daughter of the Richards family who owned and occupied the Claflin-Richards House from the early 1800s

until 1921, when it was purchased by the Wenham Village Improvement Society. Her home in Boston was a popular

meeting place for neighborhood children, and she kept a group of her childhood toys and dolls available to entertain them.

One day the children asked for the loan of these dolls to display at a fair being held for the School for Crippled Children.

With an admission fee of five cents, the doll exhibit added $5 to the fair proceeds. There and then an idea was born. From

then on, Horton used her collection of over 800 dolls to raise money for children's charities.

The Museum's doll collection reflects the aesthetics of dolls–the costumes and cultures of native and foreign peoples and

the history of the international doll industry. The dolls offer insights into the values, manners and mores of past

generations and amaze visitors with the exceedingly high quality of their manufacture and attention to detail and

craftsmanship. The doll collection has expanded to include over 5,000 dolls, ranging from Egyptian burial figures from

1500 BC to 19th-Century porcelain play dolls, even "Whimsies." It also includes period dolls of from France, Germany, and

England, as well as an important group of American cloth dolls and rare 19th century Native American and Inuit dolls.

What’s unique about this collection is the way Horton added to it. Being a school teacher, she had made many contacts

around the world through her travels and correspondence. Horton would plan an itinerary a year in advance, pack her

dolls and ship them off to be exhibited as a charitable fundraising event. Over the years, in an effort to expand her

collection and give it some notoriety, Horton wrote to officials, celebrities and the crown heads of Europe to request

donations to her collection. Many personalities of note responded, sending dolls dressed in the appropriate costumes of

their respective cultures. The collection contains dolls from Queen Victoria, the Emperor and Empress of Japan, Czar

Nicholas and Czarina Alexandra, Admiral Byrd and Cecil Rhodes, among others. It’s estimated that this energetic,

imaginative and talented woman raised approximately $100,000, and press clippings from the period indicate the public's

clear admiration and appreciation.

"Younger mothers with small children go for the 20th Century dolls–the hard plastics from the 1950s, the Hollywood

celebrity dolls," said Leiberman. "Older visitors, who are more interested in antiques, appreciate the dolls from the 19th

Century."

Up for Sale

When this worthwhile enterprise became too much for Horton to continue, she put her collection up for sale at the

Rosenback Gallery in Philadelphia, but it didn’t sell. When World War I began, she had it hastily packed away and stored

in an unused farm building in Massachusetts. In 1922, Horton offered the collection to the Village Improvement Society of

Wenham. After discovering extensive damage done to the collection by mice, moths, mold and breakage during storage,

Horton deeded the collection as a gift to the Society, if they would undertake to salvage whatever was possible.

Society members worked painstakingly to save about 800 dolls from the collection, and in 1952, the dream of the Society,

to build a fireproof structure to house the collection, was realized. Today, that same building has been expanded to include

not only the late 17-Century Claflin-Richards House, but also over 10,000 pieces of clothing, ccessories and textiles from

the Victorian Era onward, exhibited both in the house and in the museum’s galleries. In addition to objects, the museum

also has a substantial photographic collection, including albums of tintypes and such from Wenham families.

The Adventures of Miss Columbia

The Wenham Museum's most famous doll, "Miss Columbia," traveled around the world by herself for two years and nine

months beginning in 1900, raising funds for children's charities. She traveled with a diary, collected souvenirs and returned

to Horton on Christmas Day in 1902. Today, she’s displayed with her travel diary and souvenirs in a place of honor in the

Museum.

"The doll, itself, was a commercially produced cloth painted doll made by the Adams Sisters, of Oswego Center, New

York," said Leiberman. "Emma Adams made the dolls and her sister, Marietta, made the clothes and was the business

person. They were making a popular doll at the time, which they exhibited at the Columbia Exposition in 1893 in Chicago,

at which the doll received a Diploma of Merit, so they named her Columbia and sold them through all the major retail stores

and catalogs."

According to Leiberman, Horton decided to pick one doll to represent her collection and she chose this Columbia doll. "She

ordered one from the Adams Sisters, who made extra clothes for her," added Leiberman, "and there was a lot of hype

sending off this doll on the Adams Express Train."

Miss Columbia received a lot of publicity throughout the world, circumnavigating the globe in the care of mostly teachers,

but not always. She went to the Philippines and spent a couple of years there with a teacher who was sent there on a

troop ship during the U.S. occupation.

Leiberman noted that Horton’s choice of an oil-painted cloth doll was no accident. "Women made cloth dolls in the 19th

Century," she said. "During that time, women, like Martha Chase of Rhode Island, had an agenda. Chase headed a group

of progressives that felt that childhood needed to have nurturing dolls and not the over-precious, breakable French dolls,

with skirts that were too short and outfits too elaborate. The emphasis was all on show, extravagance, and expense, and

the group felt that these dolls didn’t reflect what America people and parents were about and wanted for their children."

According to Leiberman, the group wanted dolls that were slightly yielding, which cloth was, that could be loved and

played with and not just kept on the shelf. So a lot of cloth doll-making women developed businesses in their homes and

became quite successful. "Mrs. Horton chose to have a cloth doll represent America on this around-the-world journey

because it represented a middle to upper-middle class, sensible, Republican and Protestant, and probably

Congregational, child," she added. "They wanted American values to be represented abroad."

A Doll Ahead of Her Time

Miss Columbia was a doll ahead of her time. In an era when few Americans could hope to travel abroad, she went around

the world. At a time when no proper young lady went anywhere alone, she set out on her travels unchaperoned. To all

appearances, she was just a simple, if highly charismatic, doll, but she was in reality an ambassador with a mission.

"Mrs. Horton arranged the itinerary from her end," said Leiberman. "There was always someone throughout the world to

take care of the doll through Horton’s numerous contacts, who were mostly teachers."

Miss Columbia left Boston on the Adams Express Train in April, 1900, traveling west and making stops in various places

before stopping in California and traveling the West Coast before boarding a troop ship for the Philippines.

In her diary, Miss Columbia wrote on her departure, "One little girl asked me if I were not afraid to go by myself on the long

long journey & seemed to feel very sorry for me until I told her I was glad to go knowing I should meet with kind people

everywhere who would send me where they thought best all over the United States perhaps & then across the ocean."

Miss Columbia journeyed across the continent and then boarded a ship to circle the world. Her mission was to continue

Horton's charitable work for needy children, and in the process to create a history for herself. Columbia's appearances on

her trip would be free to anyone who requested her presence. The only stipulation attached was that at each of her

stopping places a tag was to be placed on her dress telling the circumstances of her exhibition and how much money she

had raised.

Columbia Departs

On April 12, 1900, Horton packed Miss Columbia in a telescoping trunk and sent her on her way courtesy of the Adams

Express Company which, in conjunction with Wells Fargo Express, provided her with free transportation across the

country. Colombia may have traveled unchaperoned, but she did not travel alone. Into her trunk went six extra dresses,

warm coat and bonnet, copies of the Boston daily and Sunday newspaper, a red, white and blue sash and a small

American flag of silk. One of her most important accessories was a journal in which she and her hosts were to share her

adventures at each stop along the way. Miss Columbia proved to be a faithful "journal-keeper" though her entries were

transcribed by many different hands.

Columbia made her first appearance in Chicago, followed by appearances in St. Louis, Kansas City, Missouri, and Omaha,

Nebraska, on her way to Denver. Her visit in Colorado was so successful that she stayed almost a month. She’s the only

doll who has ever attended a reception on top of Pike's Peak and a dance in her honor performed at the Southern Ute

Indian Reservation.

On July 13, 1900, Columbia arrived in Los Angeles. She’d remain in California for almost a year, appearing at numerous

fund-raising receptions and visiting hospitals and orphanages. Everywhere she went children presented her with souvenirs

of her visit–a rosary from a Catholic childrens' home, a Chinese hymn book, a neck chain made of seaweed from children

too poor to give anything that cost money. Miss Colombia returned from a brief trip to Alaska with a treasure basket from

an Indian boy and from Baja, California with a clay bank and straw sombreros presented by Mexican children. Humble but

endearing gifts, these small tokens reflected the affection that greeted the little doll wherever she went.

Finally, in July 1901, Miss Columbia secured passage for the Philippine Islands on the U.S. Army Transport Thomas,

popularly known as the "Teachers' Transport." After the Spanish-American War, the Philippines had been ceded to the

United States, and the U.S. government was transporting schoolteachers, as well as soldiers, to the islands. One of these

adventurous teachers, Miss Cora E. Fay of Colorado, became Columbia's constant companion for the next year.

Before going aboard, Columbia's face and hands had to be thoroughly cleaned because, as recorded in her journal, "I had

been kissed by so many big folk as well as little ones. At Denver over 600 children kissed and shook hands with me at one

reception... However my face and hands have been well washed for my start over the sea."

Columbia accompanied Miss Fay on excursions on Mindanao and even survived an earthquake. But by August 1902, a

letter from Mrs. Horton reminded Miss Columbia and Miss Fay of the long trip home to Boston. Passage was found for the

doll on the transport McClellan, whose commanding officer, Captain Nye, would look out for her more than halfway around

the world. Before leaving Zamboanga, the Collector of Customs cleared her and certified that she had complied with the

customs regulations and had not defrauded the government. However, after inspecting her New England wardrobe, he

suggested she bring more suitable clothes on the next trip. "It doesn't snow here very often," he wrote.

People don’t often think of Victorians as having a sense of humor, but Miss Columbia’s journal shows that her caretakers

really got into this fantasy. Her journal gives a peek into life at the turn of the century. No detail was too small to mention in

her journal, as can be seen in this entry: "P.S. As I am a girl they say I ought to have a 'postscript' in my book of letters, so I

add this one. I find 'Uncle Sam', my 'escort', [note: a male doll who had accompanied Miss Columbia on her West Coast

travels] is to be left behind, lest the natives of the new countries to which I am going will think that he is come to take

possession, which would never do at this time so I bid him God Speed to Boston to the Care of the International Doll

Collection where I shall one day see him again."

The McClellan docked in New York, and the Adams Express Company forwarded Miss Columbia, her souvenirs, her tags

and all of the other mementos of her trip to Boston. On Christmas Day, 1902, the express company manager personally

delivered her to Horton's townhouse. After two years and eight months of travel her mission had been accomplished. "She

was the most famous doll in the world, and she truly had been an ambassador of good will everywhere she went," said

Leiberman. In Columbia’s own words: "I met with kindness everywhere, not for my beauty but to show what good even a

little plain rag doll can do, if she tries, to make sunshine in the world."

Emma Adams was born in 1867 and died in 1900. Marietta carried on the company by hiring professional painters to paint the
faces. Since these dolls were painted by a different artist, there are differences to the total look of the doll. By 1903 the bodies
of the dolls are merely stuffed sacks with extensions upon which the arms and legs can be sewed. After 1906. these dolls were
marked THE COLUMBIAN DOLL/MANUFACTURED BY/MARIETTA ADAMS RUTTAN/OSWEGO, N.Y.

Brooke, Bob. Tiny Ambassadors with a Mission. The Antiques Almanac. www.theantiquesalmanac.com

Coleman, Dorothy S., Elizabeth A., and Evelyn Jane. The Collector's Encyclopedia of Dolls. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.
1968

Ewards, Linda. Cloth Dolls From Ancient to Modern. Atglen Pa. Schiffer Publishing. 1997.

Fosnot, Susan. The Columbian Dolls of Emma Adams – An Artists Perspective. Summer 2005 issue of Doll News.

Johl, Janet Pagter. Your Dolls And Mine A Collectors Handbook. New York: H. L. Lindquist Publications 1952,

www.wenhammuseum.org/columbia/story.htm