When he first started using cars, the owner’s technique was to take his picture standing next to his car. The photo is usually taken in front of the man’s home or workplace. That’s why this picture is of Jim Brady. Mr.’ Brady, or Jim, as he is affectionately known to his friends, is fond of bright colors. Red tie. His shirt is light pink and his jacket is green and black. His suit is a bold check in black and white. Jim is rarely seen without a bright flower at the crown of his head. is sometimes. He has more […]

Conrad must have sipped the water of eternal youth, because he looks young despite his sixty years. He has no gray hair on his head and his cheeks are pinker than ever. He certainly sticks to whatever he’s given, because he still has the handy knife he brought from Germany years ago.

If the dolls could talk, they could tell all about themselves – where they came from and how it happened – oh, they’d have a lot to say, without a doubt. Now this doll may tell us whether it is from England or Germany. Sometimes it looks as if one day she might have been drinking tea in an English garden. Then again it sure looks German. Her hair is styled exactly as Shepardson’s favorite great-grandfather’s cousin, Evelyn Millyard, used to do her hair over eighty years ago. It lies flat on the crown of her head and ends in […]

The queen that costs a dollar. In the 1870s, a woman and children from the farm come to a frontier town for Christmas. the The mother wanted her children to have a beautiful birthday, which they will always remember. She had little money to buy gifts – a suit for the boy and a doll for the girl. The doll was supposed to be as beautiful as the queen. But it was too late to find a very special doll. Christmas was only a few hours away. The two stores were sold out. There was only one other place to […]

Here is the puzzle picture. Two beautiful ladies are waiting for the curtain to rise and the Punch and Judy show to begin. Both did their poetry in the style of the 1870s. Both are depicted elsewhere in this book, but where? The pattern in the evening gown worn by the doll at left is densely embroidered with seeds pearls. The other doll’s wrapper is just as adorable. It’s a sash made of heirloom lace and is a delightful shade of ivory.

The name Claribel means bright bright. This doll’s beautifully styled hair is so beautiful and her blue eyes are so bright that Claribel seemed like just a name to her. Claribel came from Europe in the 1870’s. She lived with a little girl in a small house a few miles off the coast of Maine. Later she traveled to the Midwest where she now lives. In her day Claribel must have been a sweetheart to the ball, surely any doll could not have been more attractive. Her hair is done in three puffs in front with a wreath braid around […]

Long ago, these twins, Adeline and Adelaide, belonged to the Presbyterian pastor’s daughter. The girl had two sisters, Stella and Elizabeth. Each sister had a doll. The three little sisters and their dolls used to have fun together under the giant oak trees in their yard. There was a large rear of the house. The loft was filled with sweet-smelling hay. A cat and her five cats lived in the hayloft. Occasionally, the mother cat made a habit of joining the group gathered around the doll’s tea table. But she never brought the cats.

This doll is pretty enough to be a bridesmaid at any doll wedding. Previous slide or next slide

Princess Olga back and Neil in front are best friends. Nell, the dummy who sits in the parlour, came to Maine from foreign lands some sixty years ago. She made her home with the Eastmans on their farm near Limerick. Her blue, white, and purple plaid cotton dress is tastefully decorated with cotton fringes. Her skinny basque color makes her slender waist look even more graceful. The full skirt has a flounce at the bottom. Neil is a really cool doll in so many ways. She has the most beautiful shoes painted on the doll’s feet. They are dove gray […]

Hans finally takes a shower! Hans is a German immigrant. What a strange fate awaits him here. It would have been forgotten in a dark and dusty basement for more than fifty years. Rip Van Winkle slept all the years away, but Hans couldn’t sleep, which was even more unfortunate. When Rip wakes up, he finds that everything about him has changed. And when Hans was taken out of the cellar, he was greeted by the changed world, too. And how he needed a bath! Hans’ clothes are very different from the clothes of today’s boys. He wears a black […]