A fascination for tiny crepe paper dolls inspires a diverse collection.

By Linda Edward

In the vast world of doll collecting, there are many specialty niches that, given the right attention, can develop into obsessions. For me, one such area has been that of crepe paper dolls. As is often the case, the addiction started quite harmlessly. While attending a large antique show, I was becoming increasingly irritated over the fact that everything I admired was beyond my price range when my eye fell upon a cute little pair of Pilgrims dressed in brown, crepe paper costumes. They were appealing and cheap so I brought them home.

Once home, I took a closer look at them and discovered that they were surprisingly well made, with much detail. I marveled over the fact that these seemingly inconsequential crepe paper Thanksgiving decorations had survived through the years. Over the next several months, as my husband and I went antiquing, I found more and more little charmers similar to them. Those tiny Pilgrims had inspired a collection.

In studying the dolls, I began to be fascinated by the apparently limitless variations in construction technique and additional materials. At first, the common thread in my growing collection was that the dolls were made of crepe paper. The bodies were of crepe paper strips wound around wire or pipe cleaners, while little balls of paper covered with another piece of crepe paper formed the head. In many ways, the dolls closely resemble the cornhusk folk-type dolls of days gone by. The features of the dolls are then drawn or painted on.

On one outing, I found some dolls with wooden balls for their heads. Then I discovered a set with molded papier-mâché heads. The unifying characteristic of my collection seemed to be that my dolls were dressed in crepe paper costumes. Finally came the day when I came upon a delightful cancan dancer. She had the typical paper-wrapped wire body, but she was dressed in real fabrics! Soon, my collection included crepe paper dolls with sticker faces, crepe paper-dressed dolls with bodies made from dessert spoons and noisemakers, crepe paper dolls atop pencils and a molded, cloth doll dressed in crepe paper. The obvious connection among all of these dolls was that crepe paper was incorporated into some aspect of their construction.

As time went by, I studied the dolls and realized that, while many were homemade, an equal number were commercially produced. Many of us in the doll world are familiar with the die-cut paper doll sets put out by the Dennison Manufacturing Co. of Framingham, Massachusetts. In the 1880s, Dennison’s added crepe paper to its line of colored tissue papers. By the 1890s, it was selling small, all-bisque dolls dressed in crepe paper outfits. Eventually, the company added the line of paper dolls mentioned above. These articulated dolls were made in Germany by Littauer and Bauer. They came boxed with sheets of crepe paper and decorations that allowed a child to make his or her own paper doll clothes for the paper dolls.

Could Dennison’s have made some of my dolls or encouraged people to make them? Investigating, I found numerous booklets and pamphlets put out by Dennison’s, and they did indeed contain directions for making crepe paper dolls for various decorative purposes. Most of these creations appeared to have been contrived for use as party favors and cake toppers. Many represented brides, grooms and wedding parties. Holiday themes and other special occasions were also represented. It also began to seem as if Dennison’s probably did produce finished crepe paper dolls to sell in its party shops.

In time, additional dolls turned up bearing the marks of other paper companies. Reed Co., Sylklyk, Bainbridge, Zellerbach Paper Co., American Tissue Mills, Perkins, Papyrus Crepe Paper Co., Hazel and Hallmark were among the businesses that produced these dolls. Other dolls, marked only with their country of origin, were made in the USA, England, Germany and Denmark. They all range in date from the late 1800s to the 1960s.

As in any area of doll collecting, these miniature representations are packed with information about the fashions, lifestyles and world events of their times. Though not really designed to be playthings, the dolls were undoubtedly used by many fortunate girls after a party was over and obviously were saved by older girls as keepsakes of memorable events in their lives. Today, they are small and inexpensive enough that any collector might consider acquiring a group of these dolls. By now, my obsession has become a well-rounded collection, and I can honestly say that I will not need to buy any more crepe paper dolls. Well, maybe just one or two more!