The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-11-17
COLLECTS DOLLS
TO MAKE HISTORY
Display In U. S. Museum Shows
Characteristics of Races

one would hardly suppose that an
old gentleman engaged in an occu %
patton as serious as that of governing
100000. 900 people would have either
time or inclination To devote 10 dolls
yet our own Uncle Sam not only owns
more dolls than any 100 of the wealth
lest children of the country but he
has several men employed in collect
ing more for him.
He keeps these dolls I'm the Nation
al museum at Northumberland there
are now more than 500 of them. A
doll expert has charge of this depart
ment which is provided with snug
drawers where the little creatures are
cozily tucked away When a new doll
arrives IL is properly examined, Ia
beled, and put away among the class
Of play babies il belongs to.
And they are continually arriving
from every quarter of the globe. There
are dolls from every civilized country
i'm the world and from nearly every
savage tribe that the white man has
been able to get in touch with.
Indeed, there are a greater number
of dolls from the uncivilzed tribes of
the North and South American Sea
island savages than from any of the
European nations
Uncle Sam does not play with his
doll babies, he works with them
through his experts on ethnology who
study characteristics which relate
them to or distinguish them from one
another.
Toys Indicate Characteristics
Students on this subject found out
some wears ago that the particular
characteristics of n people or tribe,
especially those which they had inner
tied from remote ancestors. were
shown most strongly in the playthings
Of the children, especially in their
dolls. This was found to be true par
ticularly among savage tribes for the
doll is the universal plaything of chill.
dren, both savage and civilized
Through the present large collection
| Of these the government expects at
Washington have been able to trace
kinship between native tribes of Am
erica living thousands of miles apart
just as the relationship through some
old ancestor nation is shown between
two civilized nations by the similarity
| in the words and construction of THEN
language.
In this way the United States gov
eminent is acquiring n great deal OF
accurate information about the tribes
that peopled the American continent
ages before Columbus arrived here
| For instance, from a report lately
made by these experts, il is shown al.
most certainly that the Indians who
first settled the country along tn,
| Pacific coast, even as far down rs
| Central America, came across from
Asia by way Of Boring strait or the
! islands Of Boring sea. And much oil
this information was obtained through
the study of the dolls.
Uglier Than Rag Babies
There are not many pretty dol
! babies in the collections; indeed, mos
Of them are uglier than the homeless
rag baby of white child Some %
them have faces that have been pur
posely made as hideous as possible
The experts say that this ugliness il
regarded by certain savages as de
noting strength, so that Il very ugl!
man-doll would mean to the savag,
child a very strong man.
Some Of them, however, are yer.
richly dressed, especially those of tn
Indians of the western part of Amer
lea. There is a Sioux doll that has
robe designed after the robe Of a chic
which is covered with clk's teeth.
is worth several thousand dollars.
According To the experts who hav
lived among American savages, man
of the tribes, i'm South America es
pecially, make use of these dolls :,
their religious ceremonies. Some o
them are supposed To represent prom
inent chiefs or priests who have died
these are looked upon with as umc
generation as an American bestow
upon a picture of George Washington
New York "imes.