Do you know of Debbie Garrett? If not, you probably already know of her two outstanding black doll reference books: The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls and
Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting and Experiencing the Passion. Well, you're in luck! BlackDollShows.Com sat down with Mrs. Garrett to talk about her personal doll collection, the state of the black doll among people of color and other stuff.
Q: What was your initial motivation for collecting black dolls? When did you start?
A: I began collecting black dolls subconsciously through the purchase of black dolls for my daughter in the late 1970s. I did not own any black dolls as a child, and I was determined not to allow history to repeat itself in that regard with my own child. Children, particularly black children in this country, need positive play-things that mirror their image to help instill a sense of self-pride and cultural awareness. I encouraged my daughter to continue doll play well into her teens. The purchase of a black porcelain doll for her in 1991 prompted me to begin my own collection.
Q: How large and diverse is your personal collection?
A: I have a very extensive, eclectic collection of vintage-to-modern black dolls. My collection includes black dolls from the late 1800s through the current year. These consist of handmade, manufactured, playline, high-end artist, and one-of-a-kind dolls.
Q: Describe your favorite doll types (cloth, porcelain, etc.).
A: I prefer any medium that is not easily broken. I no longer collect porcelain dolls due to their fragility. I favor dolls made of vinyl, wood, resin, papier-mache, paper, composition, and hard plastic.
Q:
Do you find yourself following the work of specific doll artists or doll manufacturers? If so, who are they?
A: I have several favorite doll artists and doll manufacturers. They include, but are not limited to, Floyd Bell, Helen Kish, Ping Lau, Madame Alexander, Mattel (black Barbie and friends), Lorna Paris, Heidi Plusczok, Robert Tonner, and Vogue Ginnys. I admire the artist talents of Patricia Coleman-Cobb, Lorna Miller-Sands, Laura Tuzio-Ross, Brook K.S. Burns, Goldie Wilson and several others. I would enjoy seeing more African American doll artists? dolls on the market.
Q: What inspired you to write your first book, The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls?
A: During my doll collecting infancy (1991-1993), I took the advice of a local antiques dealer and purchased an extensive doll reference library. My desire was to reference black dolls from my childhood. I also subscribed to doll periodicals. The periodicals were adequate in keeping me abreast of new dolls released to market, but the doll references offered very little information on black dolls from the past. I was lucky if five black dolls were included in the books I purchased. However, if a white doll was also created in black, this information was occasionally included and armed me with some information about black dolls made during my childhood. I understood that the authors wrote about dolls that touched their hearts, but I needed in-depth information about the dolls that touched me - black dolls.
In 1993, Myla Perkins wrote an extensive black doll reference book, Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide 1820-1991. It was followed up by Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide Book II in 1995. Thanks to Perkins' books, the vintage world of black-doll collecting opened up for me. I was finally blessed with a wealth of black-doll knowledge, but disappointed to learn that she would not write another black-doll reference.
No one else (writers or publishers) took the initiative to document our dolls, which are part of our collective history. I hungered for information, as fellow collectors did. I realized our shared hunger in 2001, after founding the online doll discussion group, WeLoveBlackDolls (WLBD) at Yahoo! Groups. In 2002, I co-founded The Black Doll-E-Zine, which is the first and only e-zine devoted to collecting black dolls. The e-zine, which originated as a web site, was converted to a Yahoo! Group in September 2006. The initial volumes are still maintained as an Angelfire website. Both Yahoo! Groups are comprised of collectors and some doll artists. I was encouraged by members of WLBD to write my first black-doll book. Initially reluctant, I relented after an author's contract was basically hand delivered to me in 2002 by Hobby House Press, Inc. As a result, I became the author of the first full-color black doll reference book ever published.
Q: How was your book received by the doll enthusiast and collector community?
A: My first book received rave reviews from the doll collecting community, particularly from black doll enthusiasts and collectors, who had waited 8 long years to obtain additional black-doll information post-publication of Perkins' second book. One collector described it as, "The best book of the decade!".
Q: What inspired you to write your second book, Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting and Experiencing the Passion?
A: Months before the first book became a published, tangible reality in 2003, visions of my second book danced in my head. I am extremely passionate about black dolls and was aware that continued documentation of their past and present significance did not cease with the publication of my first book. This inspired me to continue the necessary black doll research and documentation for my second book immediately after my first book's manuscript was submitted.
Q: How is this book different from the first book?
A: I appreciate having had the experience to work with a publisher for my first book, but my second book is truly my baby. With it, I freely provided as much black doll information as possible for the reader without any restrictions placed on total words, pages, illustrations, or deadlines! As a result, my second book, a five-year project, nearly doubles the doll reference information found in my first book. In addition to doll references and valuations, the second book includes "A to Z Tips on Collecting," things to avoid in the doll arena, "Doll Creativity," and several "Added Extras" that the first book did not feature.
Q: What are the attributes and factors that can make a doll a collector's item? Can you provide a few examples?
A: Factors that influence a doll's collectability include:
- Overall appeal - it must be an adequate representation with aesthetic appeal and realism of skin tone, lip color, hair texture, and facial features. (I personally dislike pink lips on dark-skinned dolls.)
- The total number of pieces made - the lower the edition, the more collectible the doll.
- Special edition dolls, such as club dolls and dolls created for special events, are highly collectible.
- Innovative features, such as realistic jointing, add to a doll's collectability.
- Discontinued or controversial dolls pulled from the market become collector's items at the onset of the controversy. MGA Entertainment's recent battle with Mattel over the Bratz dolls' copyright is an example of a doll controversy that influenced many collectors and doll enthusiasts to acquire as many Bratz dolls as quickly as possible.
- Reproductions of past manufactured dolls are usually purchased with haste by adults who either owned the dolls as children or desired them. Mattel's 2009 reproduction of the 1969 Julia doll was a highly anticipated pre-production and was quickly purchased after being released to market.
- First-of-a-kind dolls are usually highly collectible. Disney's first animated African American princess will be created in doll form. Mattel has the license for the Princess Tiana doll(s), which are scheduled for release prior to the premiere of the movie in Fall, 2009.
Q: What is the origin of the black doll in the United States?
A: The first black dolls in the United States were most probably hand-made by slaves for their children using rags for the outer surface, straw or sawdust for stuffing, and embroidery or crude stitching used to create facial features. European countries, specifically France and Germany, preceded the United States in black-doll appreciation and manufacture. Eventually European-manufactured dolls migrated to the United States, which influenced some early 1900s American manufacturers, such as Madame Alexander, F & B, E. I. Horsman, and Vogue, to include a small percentage of black dolls in their manufactured lines.
Q: In your opinion, do people of color in the United States have a strong and healthy identity with dolls of color?
A: Based on the depressing results of Kiri Davis' 2005 Harlem, New York repeat of Dr. Kenneth Clark's 1940's "Doll Test," people of color in the United States, as a whole, cannot be defined as having a healthy black doll identity. In the "Doll Test" - conducted by Clark to illustrate the damaging effects of segregation on black children - black children were presented a white doll and a black doll and asked which doll they preferred. Most of the children chose the white doll over the black doll in the 1940's test. The same result occurred in the 2005 test!
Q: What is the status of the black doll in other parts of the world, such as the Caribbean, South America and Africa?
A: Dark-skinned dolls in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa that represent the native peoples of these regions are probably available for the tourist trade. Whether or not children or adult collectors of these regions own dark-skinned dolls is questionable. A recent issue of Black Doll-E-Zine includes a profile of a doll merchant from England, Nubidollz, who specializes in ethnic dolls. This merchant's own black-doll-less childhood is identical to mine. She also had difficulty finding black dolls for her daughter in England, in year 2006! The lack of black dolls led her to establish her ethnic doll business. In America and abroad, black dolls are not as plentiful or readily accessible as white dolls. This has been a long-standing, global issue.
Q: If one is interested in starting a doll collection, what advice would you give them?
A: I would advise novice collectors to:
- Read doll reference books.
- Join a doll club or online doll discussion group to network with those who share the interest.
- Begin a collection with one or two types of dolls and learn as much as possible about the dolls through independent research, networking, and reading doll reference books.
- Establish a doll budget to avoid overspending.
- A collector should always buy dolls that they like and can afford.
- Never buy a doll based on its current or future perceived monetary value.
- Remember, monetarily speaking, a doll is only worth what a person is willing to pay for it at a given time. Emotionally, if it warms your heart, its value is immeasurable!
Q: What advice would you give a doll artist or doll crafter to make their creations appealing to the doll collecting community?
A: I advise the doll artist or doll crafter as follows:
- Unless the doll is considered an art doll or an abstract creation, I would advise artists to include as much realism in their dolls as possible. This includes proportionate heads, bodies, and extremities. Visual appeal is very important to collectors.
- It is important for black dolls to have ethnically correct features that are not over-exaggerated. Black doll enthusiasts have long outgrown the desire for white dolls colored brown and few, if any, are attracted to insulting physical characteristics.
- In our current economic times, a doll's price is very important to collectors. Most collectors have established doll budgets to which they strictly adhere, in most instances. If a doll is overpriced, it will not enter a collection as readily as a moderately priced doll.
Q: And finally, are there any projects you are working on that we should keep on our radar?
A: I am currently working on a non-reference book project and additional doll projects planned for the short- and long-term that I will announce via my website, http://www.blackdollcollecting.com, and various blogs, when appropriate.
I just updated my website to inform collectors, who have not obtained an autographed copy of my second book, Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting, and Experiencing the Passion, that there are less than 10 signed copies remaining. After these copies are sold, the hard copy will be designated out of print.
Do I have visions of a third black doll reference book? No, not a black doll reference, but I will always write about black dolls and the people who collect and create them in some shape, form, or fashion. Always... it's in my DNA.