How and Why Theriault’s Preserves Doll Collections; Maybe we should call them The Doll Historians, Too. In Memory of David Frolich

How and Why Theriault’s Preserves Doll Collections; Maybe we should call them The Doll Historians, Too

 

In Memory of David Frolich of Dollspart

 

We at Doll Museum and Dr. E’s Doll Museum would like to extend our sympathy to Barbara and her family on the loss of her husband, David Frolich.  In his honor, we offer this blog as a kudos to Theriault’s, the Doll Masters for helping to disseminate and preserve doll history.

Jimmy, Shirley

 

 

How does Theriault’s preserve doll history? After all, they sell doll collections to new owners.  They do it through their beautiful catalogs.  This thought occurred to me when I was gathering some Shirley Temple and Hollywood items for a local exhibit.  Their “Love, Shirley Temple” catalog preserves for posterity the stories, photos, and other memorabilia of Shirley Temple’s legendary collection.  While the actual dolls and artifacts have found new homes throughout the world, the collection in its entirely exists among the pages of the beautiful catalog.  So, too, the famous vignette videos teach about the beautiful dolls, but also preserve them and their histories.  They form a visual and virtual library on YouTube and elsewhere for doll enthusiasts of the future.

 

The same is true of the other fantastic catalogs from “The Great Man’s Doll” which featured a doll Victor Hugo bought and Anne Rice’s amazing doll collection, to the many catalogs of museum collections that were auctioned, but which still exist in book form for those who want to study them.

 

Page from a Theriault’s Catalog.  Courtesy, Theriault’s.

 

I suppose I think of myself as a doll author/curator first, and collector a very close second, but I am very grateful that these catalogs exist, and that I can locate a historical doll and her history when I want to research her.

 

If they weren’t in the business of auctioning dolls, I’d want Theriault’s to publish exclusively their wonderful catalogs and books on every type of doll that ever existed!  For their good work in doll history, I personally thank them.

 

Papier Mache Peddler, Courtesy Theriault’s.