Doll Furniture and Accessories

Assorted doll furniture, c. 1850-1930

The miniature furniture, sold by F.A.O. Schwarz at the turn of the 19th century, appears similar to the suites of parlor, dining room and bedroom furniture which were being churned out by factories all over America.

Innovative toy companies in the 19th century developed a technique for mass-producing dolls houses. The house was made as a plain wooden box, to which were glued papers printed with patterns of brick, stone, and shingles. Papers printed with wallpaper designs were glued to the interior walls. The Lee-Fendall House owns a wonderful example furnished with store-bought pieces which span the years 1900 to 1950.

Not every dolls house was bought ready-made off the shelf. Some were crafted in the home, incorporating bits and pieces of whatever materials were available. One dolls house in the collection was made from a large wooden biscuit box, while another was fashioned from an old fish crate. The furnishings are a combination of store-bought pieces and home-crafted items.

A variant of the dolls house was the room set. Unlike a dolls house, which represented most of the rooms in a household, the room set recreated just a single room, usually in great detail. In the 17th and 18th centuries, room sets typically served an educational purpose. Mothers used replica rooms, such as kitchens, to teach their daughters essential household skills. In the Victorian period, room sets became stage-like interiors to display fashionable miniature furnishings and elegantly dressed dolls. The collection includes two unique Victorian room sets, handmade from scraps by tramps who traded the tiny rooms with housewives in exchange for food.

Towards the end of the Victorian period, companies such as McLoughlin Brothers of New York took the miniature house one step further by creating an entire village or town of miniature buildings. The collection features a rare example of McLoughlin Brothers The Pretty Village, a miniature town made of brightly colored printed paper. Children simply cut the buildings from a sheet, and then folded and glued the tabs into place.

Large dolls, like their tiny companions who resided in miniature houses, needed tasteful, useful and comfortable furnishings as well. Doll furniture was made on a scale that was appropriate to the size of these bigger dolls, and is easily distinguished from dolls house furniture by its larger proportions. The Lee-Fendall House collection of antique doll furniture and accessories includes an 1870 s rocking chair, a painted highchair and matching rocker, a cupboard, a Queen Anne-style wing chair, a canopy bed, a toy chest and a late-19th-century wicker baby carriage. It also features a broad assortment of miniature ceramic tableware and metal cookware.

Back to main