Which do you favor, toy trains or dolls? If trains are your factor, you’re in luck with the Wenham Museum. Alternatively, if you’re extra of a doll connoisseur (ahem), chances are you’ll be disenchanted with the rearranged galleries at this museum on Boston’s historic North Shore. Nonetheless, this little sleeper of a museum is nicely value a go to if you end up in Massachusetts within the coming months (I’m taking a look at you, Brimfield sellers).
All photographs by Amy Moyer
Historic Claflin-Gerrish-Richards Home
Like many small New England museums, the Wenham Museum grew from the preservation of a neighborhood historic house. It began within the preserved circa-1690 Claflin-Gerrish-Richards Home with an enormous doll assortment donated to the establishment in 1922. Though Wenham started as a doll museum, it has modified over time as doll collecting has waxed and waned. The museum is now house to many historic toy collections, with a lot gallery actual property dedicated to toy and mannequin trains.
I first visited the Wenham Museum about twenty years in the past when the upstairs galleries have been stuffed with dolls. Since I’ve been aiding a neighborhood shopper in downsizing her vintage doll assortment, I used to be excited to return to the museum to revisit the dolls on show. Alas, I used to be disenchanted to see most of the vintage dolls have been now not on view, however I understood as doll accumulating is undoubtedly in certainly one of its waning phases. In actual fact, the museum’s web site’s Presents to the Assortment web page states that the museum has a “short-term collections moratorium … in place till June 30, 2022, to permit the museum employees to carry out a full evaluation of the museum’s assortment.” I can solely think about the packing containers of unsolicited doll donations the museum has obtained lately, prompting them to publicize this present moratorium.
Miss Piggy to Topsy Turvy Dolls
Nonetheless, there was a small choice of dolls on show. I used to be happy to see a show case chock-full of numerous dolls, from Jackie Robinson to a black 1994 Astronaut Barbie to an American Woman Mexican doll, Josefina. The next show case had a surprisingly undressed topsy-turvy doll on show, though the shortage of clothes allowed guests to see each ends of the doll. Nonetheless, most topsy-turvy dolls—just like the a number of my shopper is consigning—have elaborate outfits, that are additionally enjoyable to see. Alas once more.
One finish of the principle gallery had a small in-house exhibit entitled “Pink” with a cheerful assortment of pink gadgets, together with fabulously handmade relics from the 2017 Ladies’s March. Naturally, I gravitated to the show case within the Pink exhibit, which had a motley assortment of “pink” dolls. The winner, on this case, was Miss Piggy, a doll that mixed the standard well-coiffed hair and stylish robe of trend dolls like Barbie with Miss Piggy’s basic porcine options.
Common Patton’s Toy Troopers
The museum had many different toys and on a regular basis life gadgets on show all through. The Patton Family Toy Soldiers, donated by Main Common George S. Patton IV (1923–2004), have been exceptionally spectacular. Dad and mom take word: in the event you handle to maintain screens out of your school-age youngsters’s arms lengthy sufficient, these little figures nonetheless provide fabulous pretend-play choices. Those displayed on the Wenham Museum exemplify this, with the toy males in numerous poses and with a big assortment of old school weaponry.
A lot of the upstairs house now has train-themed gadgets as a substitute of the outdated doll shows, and the museum’s decrease stage can be stuffed with trains. These lower-level shows have been comparatively unchanged since I final visited. The basic tableaux of tracks, mountains, and miniature buildings create scenes for model trains to run via. This space has a desk the place a neighborhood aged mannequin prepare aficionado often sits to reply questions, though one was absent throughout my go to. The mannequin trains have been well-kept since my final go to—is there something tougher to wash than a mannequin prepare show? Thank goodness for canned air.
Creepy and Kooky, All Collectively Ooky
I ended my go to by returning to see extra dolls, together with the Addams Family Home in a show case on the far finish of the decrease stage. The home regarded a bit worse for put on, however I nonetheless appreciated the inclusion of the basic Charles Addams characters who debuted in Nineteen Thirties New Yorker magazines. Do you know the Addams Household’s official handle was 001 Cemetery Lane? Nevertheless, the home used within the Nineteen Sixties tv present was at 21 Chester Place in Los Angeles. Now you possibly can see a miniature home displayed right here on the Wenham Museum.
Whereas I could return to the Wenham Museum prior to the twenty years it took me this time, hopefully, by then, doll accumulating will probably be a bit extra in trend, and museum staffers will select to place a couple of extra doll treasures on show. However, for now, I can solely think about the cabinets of dolls resting quietly in storage!
Amy Moyer is the proprietor of Antmuffin: Artwork, Antiques & Collectibles (www.antmuffin.com). She holds a B.A. in Visible Artwork from Brown College and lives in Boston.
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