The Story of the Columbian Dolls

More than a story about a doll, this is a memoir of a family and a tale of two women becoming entrepreneurs in an era when most women did not work outside the home. Of those who did work for pay, very few owned their own businesses. The feature of the story is the Columbian Doll which is much prized by doll collectors everywhere, and the only doll to travel solo around the world. She was named for the Columbian Exposition, the 1893 World’s Fair held in Chicago to commemorate Christopher Columbus’ discovery of this land. The Columbian Dolls were given their name because they became widely known at the Fair. After being displayed in the Women’s and Children’s Building, the orders poured in including a large one from the famed Marshall Field and Company in Chicago. More than 4500 cloth dolls and their clothes were hand-made in the small hamlet of Oswego Center, near Lake Ontario, by two enterprising women and their helpers. This story is related in the first person by Diane Parrish, granddaughter of one of these women. Included is a history of the family in the time before and after the Civil War, and the journey of their famous doll to raise money for children’s charities. Read more