"Mamie Doll"
Title
"Mamie Doll"
Holding Institution
Provenance Information
1956.149a-g (includes separate collar and shawl)
Date Created
19th century
Format
doll
REDC Region
Notes
This doll is made of cotton fabrics with cotton stuffing, wool accents and cotton and wool garments. The figure is a black woman, with a dark brown twill weave cotton fabric skin. The hand-stitched doll is stuffed with heavy cotton wadding. The doll is dressed in several garments: a plaid dress with matching headscarf and shawl, a white cotton apron, a cream wool petticoat with red embroidery, a set of white cotton drawers, burgundy knit stockings, and a cotton eyelet collar
This doll as an important historical artifact in the Bowne House collection. The conservator states that 19th century black dolls, too often ignored in the past, are now seen as "evidence of the lived experience of the owners and makers as well as a reflection of the larger forces of slavery and its legacy and offer a unique a unique prism through which to view race, representation and black lives...". Their historical importance was recently recognized in a New York Historical Society 2022 exhibition entitled "Black Dolls" that focused not only on the historically marginalized black women who often crafted them, but white abolitionist women who sold or purchased them at anti-slavery fairs to raise funds for the abolitionist cause.
This doll personifies unexplored narratives relating to the Abolitionist Movement and Underground Railroad in New York in which residents of the Bowne House played a part and the Flushing 19th century free black community. Robert Bowne was one of the original founders of the New York Manumission Society; Bowne women founded the Quaker Flushing Female Association which participated in teaching inter-racial and former enslaved African American children in their schools and Sunday school; and Samuel Parsons and his three sons are known to have participated in an Underground Railroad network. Free black and mulatto domestic servants are believed to have resided at the Bowne House in the 19th century.
In 2021, Bowne House was designated by the National Park Service as a facility for research related to the Underground Railroad in the NPS Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Residents have also been documented as both involved in the Abolition Movement in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as the Underground Railroad in the 19th century. We have documents in our archives, as well as from other repositories, which evidence their involvement. These residents include Robert Bowne who was one of the original founders of the New York Manumission Society in 1785 and the African Free School in 1787; Bowne women who founded the Quaker Flushing Female Association ("FFA") in 1814 which met regularly at the house and provided an education to inter-racial and former enslaved African American children in their schools and Sunday school; and Samuel Parsons and his three sons (and likely their wives) who are known to have participated in a network of the Underground Railroad, including by raising funds to aid the movement of freedom seekers and hiding them on the Bowne Farm premises and adjacent properties of one or more Parsons sons until they could assist them in escaping to freedom. Our educators give tours to school groups as well as adults on both topics. The Bowne House is one of three organizations (the other two being the New York Historical Society and the Museum of the City of New York) designated for the NYC Civics program. Educational tours are given to school groups and adults, both in person or virtually. This doll can help make the teaching of history relatable to younger children, as well as serve as a discussion point for issues of identity, race, stereotypes, slavery, the Flushing free black community, and the role women played in the Abolition Movement. Scholars and students will also benefit by the display of this doll in this context in that it will help to demonstrate how issues of race, representation, stereotypes, and slavery were addressed by marginalized and underrepresented African-American women craft artists in the 19th century and will present the fuller history of this marginalized community in New York State through their own lens and cherished artifacts.
This doll as an important historical artifact in the Bowne House collection. The conservator states that 19th century black dolls, too often ignored in the past, are now seen as "evidence of the lived experience of the owners and makers as well as a reflection of the larger forces of slavery and its legacy and offer a unique a unique prism through which to view race, representation and black lives...". Their historical importance was recently recognized in a New York Historical Society 2022 exhibition entitled "Black Dolls" that focused not only on the historically marginalized black women who often crafted them, but white abolitionist women who sold or purchased them at anti-slavery fairs to raise funds for the abolitionist cause.
This doll personifies unexplored narratives relating to the Abolitionist Movement and Underground Railroad in New York in which residents of the Bowne House played a part and the Flushing 19th century free black community. Robert Bowne was one of the original founders of the New York Manumission Society; Bowne women founded the Quaker Flushing Female Association which participated in teaching inter-racial and former enslaved African American children in their schools and Sunday school; and Samuel Parsons and his three sons are known to have participated in an Underground Railroad network. Free black and mulatto domestic servants are believed to have resided at the Bowne House in the 19th century.
In 2021, Bowne House was designated by the National Park Service as a facility for research related to the Underground Railroad in the NPS Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Residents have also been documented as both involved in the Abolition Movement in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as the Underground Railroad in the 19th century. We have documents in our archives, as well as from other repositories, which evidence their involvement. These residents include Robert Bowne who was one of the original founders of the New York Manumission Society in 1785 and the African Free School in 1787; Bowne women who founded the Quaker Flushing Female Association ("FFA") in 1814 which met regularly at the house and provided an education to inter-racial and former enslaved African American children in their schools and Sunday school; and Samuel Parsons and his three sons (and likely their wives) who are known to have participated in a network of the Underground Railroad, including by raising funds to aid the movement of freedom seekers and hiding them on the Bowne Farm premises and adjacent properties of one or more Parsons sons until they could assist them in escaping to freedom. Our educators give tours to school groups as well as adults on both topics. The Bowne House is one of three organizations (the other two being the New York Historical Society and the Museum of the City of New York) designated for the NYC Civics program. Educational tours are given to school groups and adults, both in person or virtually. This doll can help make the teaching of history relatable to younger children, as well as serve as a discussion point for issues of identity, race, stereotypes, slavery, the Flushing free black community, and the role women played in the Abolition Movement. Scholars and students will also benefit by the display of this doll in this context in that it will help to demonstrate how issues of race, representation, stereotypes, and slavery were addressed by marginalized and underrepresented African-American women craft artists in the 19th century and will present the fuller history of this marginalized community in New York State through their own lens and cherished artifacts.
Citation
“"Mamie Doll",” Flipping The Narrative, accessed February 10, 2025, https://flippingthenarrative.omeka.net/items/show/3.