Doll Collection Donated to Museum and Shown at Habitat for Humanity
Dolls for grown-ups — from a private collection donated to the museum in 2004 let others share in the enjoyment — are part of the Museum’s International Doll Exhibit going on the road for that express purpose.
The Habitat for Humanity in Americus, Georgia is among the locations where the dolls were exhibited. The diversified, donated collection of some 200 dolls belonged to the late Aza Williams, who amassed them through purchases over a period of many years. Her husband, Jack Williams, contributed the dolls to the museum “to let somebody else enjoy them.” They’d been standing in his living room since his wife passed away in 1999.
The Williams dolls comprise a large portion of the Museum’s International Doll Exhibit’s approximately 300-piece collection. Museum staffers determined that the Williams collection fit perfectly into the International Doll Exhibit and would give it variety. Most of the dolls are from the 20th century and are between 8″ and 12″ tall. The majority stand on their own, supported by bases made by doll-makers in their respective nations.
The dolls are a “lovely reflection of New York’s melting pot,” according to Museum director Marlene Hochman. And visitors who view the beautifully clothed, embellished and accessorized dolls, which are dressed in traditional costumes representing a variety of cultures and countries, she said, “can see the world.”
Several of the Williams’ dolls were among an International Exhibit dolls on display in 2005, at the New York Public Library Donnell Center in Manhattan. There, one young girl spent a day sketching the dolls. Another visitor commented, “It’s like Disneyworld - it’s a small world after all.”
In the creation of many of the dolls, makers used natural environmental products, such as palm fronds and coconuts, which helped viewers identify with the dolls as representing their particular culture or country of origin.
50 of the dolls were exhibited at the visitor’s center of Habitat for Humanity. Mr. Williams originally planned to give his wife’s dolls to a children’s hospital but, realizing the dolls, many of them collector’s items, were for grown-ups, not youngsters, decided to offer them elsewhere. The Brooklyn Children’s Museum put him in touch with the Doll and Toy Museum. A retired advertising salesman and one-time stamp collector, Mr. Williams lives in Flushing, New York.
Habitat Dedicated to Providing Decent Housing for the World Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian program dedicated to eliminating substandard housing and making decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.
Habitat has built more than 175,000 houses for nearly 900,000 people in 100 countries. Volunteers work with future homeowners to build or renovate houses, which are then sold to partner families at no profit, with no interest charged on the mortgage. The money from the sale of each house goes into a revolving Fund for Humanity, to support future building projects.
Former President Jimmy Carter first became involved with Habitat in 1984 when he led a work group to New York City to help renovate a six-story building with 19 families in need of decent, affordable shelter. Each year, through the Jimmy Carter Work Project, he and his wife Rosalynn help build homes and raise awareness of the critical need for affordable housing throughout the world.
