Tuesday, January 19, 2010

My 1966 Scrap Album: Fashion Dolls etc


At my mother's house, in the bedroom I slept in when I was a teenager, I still have a cupboard with some of my things in it. Among them are several scrap books, and I realise I almost have enough scrap books to make a collection!



I have one my mother's mother made for me when I was very little - it has lots of pictures with texture, like embossed cards, cards with tinsel on them, or small pictures stuck on larger ones, so you can run your finger over them and feel them as well as see them.


I also have one I made myself when I was a bit older; one my father's mother's stepmother made (the 1905 Watson's Bay card which says The Pleasures of the Season attend thee was scanned from that); and as a family we have one of my mother's father's mother's scrap albums, with press cuttings (!!) and mementos of her time as a school student, a university student, and on the world tour where she met my great-grandfather.



The scrap book that the pictures I've scanned here come from, was made for me by my mother in 1966. We had been to England to visit her family, and shortly before we were due to leave, my mother fell down some steps in her sister's house (called Rosemary Cottage), holding my baby sister, and broke a toe.



So, my father flew back to Australia with my sister and me, while my mother travelled by ship, so her toe could heal in peace. During that voyage, Mum made this scrap book from an old Sydney telephone directory. (How did she come to have that, on a voyage back from England to Australia? And enough magazines to cut pictures out of? I don't know.)



The magazines she used were from 1964 and 1965. I don't collect fashion dolls myself - in fact, my sister and I only had one, for a short time, who stood in the middle of a record and twirled around. But I realised that there are quite a lot of photos of fashion dolls, and those of you who collect them might be interested to see them. Most likely the photos accompanied patterns for the clothes which the dolls are modelling.



I've also scanned a few other photos of kitchen utensils etc, to remind us of what was seen as desirable in those years!



Some of these I have seen in miniature (this goblet, for example) - but perhaps not as much stainless steel as a 1960s doll would like!


I have to admit too that I am not sure who all these dolls are. I think most are Barbie, but who are the others?

13 comments:

  1. Thank you for these old pictures!
    I don't collect fashion dolls either, except the little ones, topper, pippa, tadie muz :), rockflower, and all those who are under 20cm.
    I have made an exception for my two Tressy American Character, I have bought them recently, and I just love their faces. I think I could do another exception for the first one of your pictures, it's Sindy?, isn't it. I love her face, she's so pretty, particularly in blond ...
    Did you find patterns to make dresses for my Tressy? (30cm like a Barbie) If yes, I would be happy to get a copy.

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  2. Sorry, Béa, these are all the dolls I found in the album. Thanks for identifying Sindy! She is very pretty in blonde :-)

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  3. great!! all these old pictures of barbies and kitchen stuff :) we made scrapbooks, with my mum´s mum, too. unfortunately just one is left showing things i cut out and glued in an old book with plain pages, my daddy gave to me. i was very small and it´s not perfect. thank you so much for reminding me of the srapbook tradition!!

    *nicola

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  4. Hi Rebecca, and Bea!
    I think we all are in the same age, it is lovely to share the childhood-memories. I have given away nearly everything of my childhood. So nice to see you have saved a lot. I love most the crocheted dresses. I think my mother crocheted dresses for my "Petra-doll" too, it is much easier than knitting such small pieces.I remember that I tried it for my daughter's dolls, but she wasn't a dollmum, she only loves books.

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  5. The red coffee/tea pot is exactly the same as the one I used to collect candy and money in when I dressed up as a witch for easter as a child! :-)

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  6. As I was a new bride in 1966...all the kitchen items bring back memories...and I think we had a similar chair also! Much too old for the dolls, but the fashions are what real people wore at the time (rolling my eyes on that one!).
    It sounds like your family has some wonderful scrapbooks; just wondering how many people now take the time to preserve memories in this fashion. Maybe I will start a scrapbook with my little grandson.....

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  7. very nice - I like the blackandwhite Barbies in elegantly but self-knitted clothes best, they look so royal - young Queen Elizabeth on her way to a christening of a ship perhaps -

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  8. These old pictures are very interesting. If you had the doll dancing on the record, then it was possibly a Rock Flower Heather (I've still got my sister's one).
    I don't know what all these dolls are, I'm not sure that they are Barbie, though I may be wrong (I always preferred Sindy to Barbie). I have recently bought a book in my quest for Susie's identity, and it has lots of fashion dolls in it, so in a spare moment(!) I'll have a look.

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  9. @ Nicola - not perfect scrapbooks made when we were small are great! I have of my very early (kindergarten) school books where I cut things out and pasted them in - fun to look at :-)

    @ Oese - yes, similar ages, similar memories, even though we grew up in different countries. Great your daughter loves books, even if not dolls!

    @ Marika - wow, I liked the patterns on the tea/coffee pot and the plate and the cup in this picture, but I didn't expect anyone would have had identical ones - and what memories :-)

    @ Florine - nice memories, I hope?
    Scrapbooking is a big hobby in itself, now, I think replacing ordinary photo albums - you can buy all kinds of embellishments to put with your photos. But I don't know if kids (or parents) still cut pictures out of magazines or greeting cards to make scrapbooks of interesting pictures. I guess there are far more picture books around now, not to mention sticker books, tv and dvd!

    @ diepuppenstubensammlerin: you're right, they do look just like the young Queen Elizabeth, don't they? Very regal and elegant!

    @ DollMum: I thought you'd mentioned something about a doll on a record! Heather is a nice name, too. If you happen to come across these dolls, I'd be interested to know who they are - though I don't think I'll start collecting them! Their clothes might give me ideas for dolls who need redressing, though.

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  10. So nice your mother has kept your old scrap books! I love watching the pictures, especially the ones with the kitchen utensils, since I wasn't much of a doll's person when I was a child. The only Barbie doll I had was one after my mother. (I had a young mother) I also love old tableware design. Much of my own tableware is from the fifties and sixties.

    And I remember I made a scrapbook too, when I was seven of my dream home, using interior magasine pictures!

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  11. What a treasure trove. I have very recently discovered Sindy again having been loaned two which I am attempting to make clothes for (haven't made dolls clothes for a very long time!). When I first saw the Sindy dolls (particularly the earlier one) I was amazed by the memories she evoked. It was the same looking at your scrapbook photos. Thank you for sharing these.

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  12. Thank you for your comment, Pandora! I have now discovered your blog, and must apologise for not finding it sooner, as I realise you've been following mine for a while. I love your vintage collection, and the miniatures you've made yourself!
    It's very nostalgic seeing old magazine pictures like these, isn't it? Unfortunately the patterns for the clothes are not in the scrapbook (well, a 3 yr old would not have been interested!!), but maybe you can use the pictures as inspiration for your new Sindy clothes :-)

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  13. Hi Pubdoll, glad you enjoyed the kitchen utensils! Which 50s and 60s designs do you have?
    You were clearly into design at an early age :-) How does the dream home of your childhood match your dream home now? and the house you now live in?

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