Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - July 12, 1998
By Helen F. Mitchell
Vigo County Historical Society

"Miss Dolly" dates to Civil War

Needed: 1 pound of white paper, 1 pound of dry Spanish Whiting, 1 pound of rye flour, 1 ounce glue and linen cloth to reinforce the neck and head.

With this information and a few details as to procedure, Ludwig Greiner applied for the first patent for papier mache heads. The U.S. Patent Office gave him the patent in 1858 and in 1872 he was given an extension. So the Greiner dolls came into existence in a factory near Philadelphia.

Ludwig Greiner was an immigrant who had come to this country from an area of Germany known for its doll and procelain making. His new dolls were sturdy looking but certainly not anything like the procelain creations.

The papier mache heads were mounted on a cloth body with oilcloth hands and velvet or leather shoes. Most of them were dressed in typical working people’s attire. The hair was molded on and usually painted black. They had brown eyes without pupils. The hair was usually parted in the middle with curls or short braids in the back.

Day after day, the museum doll sits in her wooden chair. She has a placid, well-fed but rather dumb expression. Her blue checkered dress is very appropriate, if not too flattering. Her underclothes are while with lace and eyelet trim.

She looks like someone you could confide in and trust. "Miss Dolly" dates to the Civil War time in America.

She was presented to the Vigo County Historical Museum by Ruth DeBaun and was from the collection of Clara Muncie Mayfield, Ruth’s mother. Come to the museum and visit this doll and others.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.