We’re going to refer to the doll shown above as the “Pen-wiper” doll because the little black felt pad she’s seated upon is what’s called a pen-wiper. Back in the 1800’s people used what we think of today as calligraphy-style pens to write letters and correspondences.
The black felt circle, with its “circular pieces of layered felt and silk” (1) would have been used to clean the ink off of one’s pen between uses. However I don’t think this particular pen-wiper was used for that purpose, as it seems to serve as a couch for the little doll.
But as you may know, today’s blog post is part of a history challenge! (Click here to read about the self-reported way to score yourself and download the free PDF to join the history challenge.) So we need to give a date to this little 2-inch tall, jointed doll.
I’m going to take a moment to analyze her clothing, in order to assign a more specific date to her, although the DAR Museum, where she is housed (in Washington DC), dates her generally to the 1800’s with a subtext of “date unknown.”
The DAR Museum also offers us a description of the little doll’s jointed body and clothing, as follows: “Head, shoulders and elbows with rivet-type joints… The doll is wearing a pink satin off-the-shoulder dress. It is pleated tightly around the shoulders with attached full, pagoda style sleeves and drawn in at the waist with a sash of ribbon. The dress skirt is full with minor pleats.”
Based on this description, I think we can place this tiny “Pen Wiper Seated Doll” solidly in the Victorian Era.
Why the Victorian Era? Prior to the reign of Queen Victoria of England (1837 to 1901), the style of dresses worn by women was strikingly different.
The empire waist, squarish neckline, and long, flowing but not full skirts were popularized by Empress Josephine Bonaparte, who presided over Post-Revolutionary France alongside her husband, Napoleon, from 1804 to 1810. According to Vogue magazine, “We get ’empire style’ and an ’empire waist’ from Joséphine” (2). To understand Empress Josephine’s style, think of the popular Netflix show, Bridgerton.
When Queen Victoria was crowned the Queen of England in 1837, fashion shifted from the smooth, long lines of the empire style of Empress Josephine to the open neckline that exposed shoulders, and the lower waistline that was popular in the Victorian Era (named for Queen Victoria).
Do you see how the dress above has a pseudo-shawl look to the neckline? When I perused Fashion and Costumes from Godey’s Lady’s Book (edited and with an introduction by Stella Blum of Kent State University Museum), these accoutrements, which are referred to as “Neckline… accessories” (3) appear to be very commonly worn in the early Victorian era.
I did a little detective work to find out what this garment is called, and on page 279 of another book called Western World Costume by Carolyn G. Bradley of The Ohio State University, I found that this garment piece is called a “bertha” and is defined thus: “cape-like collar of cloth or lace” (4). If you take another look at the close-up photo of our little jointed doll from the DAR Museum, she can offer us a few clues about her costume and what period in history it comes from…
I realize that this isn’t the best photo, but you need to be aware that this doll is literally only 2 inches tall and 1 and a half inches wide! So we can forgive the DAR Museum for its lack of microscopic photography! But looking at that photo, can you tell that the bottom of the skirt and the bottom of the sleeve both seem to have some semblance of a hem?
But what’s going on at the top of the bodice? I think I see a raw fabric edge along the neckline, and it’s possible that glue or some sort of adhesive has discolored the dress’s fabric there.
Let’s take a look at the doll from the back as well.
Clearly someone has taken care to give the bottom of the skirt a finished edge, but where the bodice is gathered at the top, it does not have a finished edge at all. As a doll clothing designer, this strikes me as odd, the juxtaposition of the finished edges of the entire garment vs. the unfinished neckline. Even the belt (or sash) looks finished.
My hypothesis is that this doll once had a bertha (AKA a bertha collar) attached around her neckline. It was, after all, a commonplace accessory that appeared on dresses from about 1839 until about 1855, as far as I can tell from my research.
So with that hypothesis in place, I took a look at the sleeves of her dress, which the DAR Museum refers to as “pagoda sleeves.”
I think most people know what a pagoda is; it’s a multi-tiered roof, like the one you see in the image above. So why is this type of sleeve called a “pagoda”?
According to Western World Costume by Carolyn Bradley, a pagoda sleeve is a “sleeve shaped like a funnel, tight above and gradually widening at the wrist with several ruffles.” However other online sources more generally indicated that any sleeve that gets wider toward the wrist can be considered a pagoda sleeve.
Our little “Pen Wiper” doll’s sleeves don’t have any ruffles, but they do seem to taper as they gain elevation, so to speak. So keeping this in mind, Bradley’s book also gives a very definite date for this type of sleeve on page 280: “pagoda sleeve; waist round in back, slender and somewhat shorter at first of period, corsage en corset for evening, 1837…” Is our doll’s waist a little shorter than the waists of ladies in the 1850’s? Hmm…
Because of the belt, I think, yes, it is a little shorter than we see on ladies just before the American Civil War.
On the Library of Congress website, I found this photo of Mary Todd Lincoln, which is dated “1846 or 1847,” and which definitely shows the lower waist Corolyn G. Bradley talks about in Western World Costume.
Based on this research, I suspect that our doll pre-dates this photo of Mary Todd Lincoln, or at least, the style of dress the little “Pen Wiper Seated Doll” wears seems to. So based on this research, I’m going to date this doll to between 1837 and 1845, as a best guess.
The DAR Museum only gives her an overall date of “19th Century,” but hopefully my detective work has shed a little light on a closer date range. For our online history challenge, you’re welcome to stick to the DAR Museum’s vague date range, or you can place her between 1837 and 1845, to see if your guess came close.
Today’s images and much of the information provided come from the DAR Museum online. Please click on the links provided to learn more about the DAR Museum. The address of the museum is 1776 D Street NW Washington, DC 20006, so if you plan to visit our nation’s capital, you might think about going to see the DAR Museum in person.
I’m a museum liaison for my local (Twin Falls, Idaho) chapter of the DAR, which means that I sometimes do museum research for our local club.
The letters, DAR, stand for Daughters of the American Revolution. What does this mean? It means I have an ancestor who was in the American Revolutionary War. I’m very proud of the fact that my ancestor served in the Revolution for American Independence from Great Britain, and as such, helped establish the United States of America as an independent nation.
The DAR is a club that offers its members an opportunity to serve our nation by doing organized volunteer work. In particular, this year I have been sewing drawstring bags for a public school to use as storage in one of the teachers’ classrooms. Last year I made doll clothes to give as Christmas presents to a.) the families of United States military service members and b.) a homeless shelter in Twin Falls, Idaho.
Although the doll clothes I made for these purposes was featured in some of my articles here on ChellyWood.com, the volunteer work I do for the DAR is separate from the work I do to maintain this website. They are not affiliated with one another in any way. ChellyWood LLC is recognized by the state of Idaho as a for-profit business, whereas the DAR is a nonprofit organization.
Some members of the DAR serve as volunteers at local voting locations, soup kitchens, food banks and so much more. If you’d like to contact your local DAR to request volunteers to act in service capacities in your neighborhood, or if you’d like to learn whether or not you could qualify to join the DAR (you must do genealogy research to find out whether or not you are a descendent of a person who served in the American Revolutionary War), feel free to contact members of the Daughters of the American Revolution on their website, by using one of the links I’ve provided here.
REFERENCES:
Please note: images were used, with permission, and they come from the DAR Museum website. Click on the link provided to visit the DAR Museum website for yourself, to see a higher-resolution image and to learn more details about each of the dolls featured.
- Artist unknown. “Doll.” [Medium: wood]. 19th century. DAR Museum, Washington DC. Image used with permission. Information accessed 1 Aug. 2024. https://collections.dar.org/mDetail.aspx?rID=1006&db=objects&dir=DARCOLL
- Higonette, Anne. “How Joséphine Bonaparte Launched Napoleon—Through Fashion.” Vogue, 17 Nov. 2023. Web. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024. https://www.vogue.com/article/josephine-bonaparte-napoleon-fashion
- Blum, Stella (editor). Fashions and Costumes form Godey’s Lady’s Book: Including 8 Plates in Full Color. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1985.
- Bradley, Carolyn G. Western World Costume: an Outline History. Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., New York, 1954.
- Shepherd, Nicholas H, photographer. Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln. Three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing front. [or 1847] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2004664342/>.