Mrs. Martha Stuart from Pueblo admires the First Lady Dolls (l to r) Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Talbot, Mrs. Orman and Mrs. Adams. This picture is undated.
(click on pictures to enlarge)
First Ladies of Colorado -- All of the 35 wives of the Governors of Colorado are represented in the doll display, a project of the State Federation. Mrs. Peter Gibson, NFRW President; Mrs. Don Higby, Colorado Springs, past President of the Colorado Federation, and Mrs. Edith Mattoon, President of the Women's Republican Club of Denver and Chairman of the doll project, look at the display.
(Printed in the Washington Newsletter, published by the National Federation of Republican Women, June 1959)
Click on the article to enlarge
"Rush To The Rockies" doll project of the Colorado Federaton of Republican Women, is in recognition of the state's Centennial Year. Each doll is authentically dressed for the wife of a Governor. Project chairman, Mrs. Edith Mattoon, President of the Women's Republican Club of Denver, shows some of the display to Mrs. J.B. Parks, Pueblo, NFRW 3rd Vice President (later to become President of NFRW).
(Printed in the Washington Newsletter, published by the National Federation of Republican Women, June 1959, however the description was incorrect. The dolls were made for the Rush to the Rockies centennial 1859 to 1959, not the state's centennial which would have been 1876 - 1976).
Mary Bevard, 75, holds a doll representing first lady Bea Romer in her garage in Westminster. Thirty-nine dolls now reside in boxes there since being evicted from a capitol display case that did not meet federal viewing standards. Bevard has kept track of the collection for 15 years.
(Printed in the Rocky Mountain News, Friday, January 27, 1995.)
(click on pictures to enlarge)
This case at the Colorado Capitol building holds the earliest 19 dolls
The second case at the Colorado Capitol building holds the remaining 20 dolls
The First Lady dolls enjoy a visit to a CFRW Board of Directors meeting in 1995.
Historian Betty Chronic with Mary Bevard who dressed and cared for the dolls for more than15 years before they were placed in the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys.
The First Lady dolls enjoy a visit to a CFRW Board of Directors meeting in 1995.
I was researching the whereabouts of this doll collection and came upon this blog. I grew up in Denver and had seen this doll collection as a young girl. I relocated to AZ in 1989. In June of 2011 I returned to the Capitol building and was surprised the dolls were not on display. I inquired about them but no one knew what I was talking about. I am so relieved to find they've been relocated to the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys. Next time I'm in Denver I will be sure to stop in for a visit!
ReplyDelete