Renowned doll collection finds new home
Move to Gordon House tourist centre means wider exposure for collection
Thousands of dolls needing a new home have found one in the historic Gordon House in Amherstburg. What could be the largest international doll collection in Ontario will be shown on a rotating basis at the Gordon House Information Tourist Centre on Dalhousie Street.
“We’re excited. We are a historic community so it’s a perfect fit,” Anne Rota, the town’s manager of tourism and culture, said Tuesday. The Shaanti International Museum of Costumes and Dolls had been in the Malden Community and Cultural Centre, better known as the little white church at the end of Howard Avenue, since 2011. But the property sold in December and the dolls needed a new home. Instead of only being open one day a week during the summer, the new doll museum will be open five days a week in the winter and all week during the summer, Rota said. There will be no charge to see the rare and unique dolls from around the world in a room in the tourist centre.
“The dolls themselves are pretty amazing,” she said. “Definitely because of the new downtown location and hours, now the dolls and costumes will be able to be viewed by many people.”
Raj Varma, secretary and treasurer of the non-profit Shaanti International Museum of Costumes and Dolls, and the man who started collecting the dolls in the 1980s to show different cultures from around the world, said it’s very important to have a permanent home. Before being moved to Amherstburg, the collection was shown at the main library in Windsor and at the former Cleary Auditorium.
There are more than 3,000 dolls in the collection, and in the future he hopes the museum can be part of the restored Belle Vue House in Amherstburg. For now, because the collection is so large, only part of the collection will be shown in a rotating exhibit that will change four times a year.
“We are thinking of changing the name to Amherstburg International Museum of Dolls,” Varma said Tuesday. The exhibit kicks off Feb. 1 during Black History Month. Varma said the collection includes dolls from South Africa and Kenya and has a unique moving baby mannequin. He said the Manhattan Soap Company had 30 white dolls and two black dolls made for travelling salesmen. They are mechanically operated. The museum has one of what is believed to be only two black dolls made for the company, he said.
Some of the dolls are about 200 years old. Some are made of wood, porcelain, cloth, clay and there’s even tin-faced dolls. He doesn’t like to reveal the value of the collection. While some would see the value of the dolls by age or rarity, the value of the collection is in the costumes and the culture and heritage it shows from around the world, he said.
The ribbon cutting ceremony to open the exhibit is Feb. 1 at 4:30 p.m. at the Gordon House. The tourist centre and museum is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays in the winter.
Because of the new downtown location and hours, now the dolls and costumes will be able to be viewed by many people.