Part of our current exhibit is devoted to dolls, which are one of the oldest of playthings for children. Making the way through the exhibit, you can learn of the many roles that dolls have had in different times and different cultures. One of the dolls in our display has an interesting local story of its own.
Lisa Gurney Walbridge told us about the small China doll which she has loaned to the museum. She was about to turn eight-years old when her grandmother, Annie Hartley Gurney, asked her what she would like for her birthday. Lisa asked for a China doll (a request that she acknowledges was not a typical one).
After a moment of silence, her grandmother went upstairs and came back with a bundle wrapped in an old dishcloth. Inside was a small China doll in a crocheted outfit that reflected what a girl would have worn around 1910. Her grandmother gave her the doll for her birthday and she told Lisa that her mother, Lisa’s great grandmother, had given her this same doll for her eighth birthday.
I remember Lisa’s grandmother as Aunt Annie who was named after her mother, Annie Louisa Snell Hartley. The elder Annie was the mother of 15 children with 13 of them surviving to adulthood. She can be seen in the picture in front of the doll. Needless to say, she was the actual grandmother of many and over the years, also became known as Grandma Hartley to generations of Rochester residents. She was my great-grandmother and also Lisa’s.
Now back to Lisa’s doll. Her current dress as well as the teddy bear were handmade by Lisa, and she is in remarkably good condition for having been owned by two little girls.
There are many more dolls and other items in the current exhibit that show how we’ve entertained ourselves in Rochester for over 300 years. The exhibit will be open to the public on Sept. 28 during our annual Cranberry Bake Sale. As always, we will arrange to open the museum by appointment.
I want to thank Herb, Alton and Art for their help with last week’s article and Lisa for her help with this one. It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child and sometimes it seems, it takes one to preserve and share a town’s history.
By Connie Eshbach