For the past eight months, an exhibit of cloth, wood, and leather dolls has been kickstarting important conversations about race and gender in Kansas City.
The dolls date from around 1850 to 1940. Many are dressed in 19th century suits and patterned cotton dresses with neatly-appointed aprons. Some are made from old feed sacks. A few wear sunbonnets, leather shoes and have buttons for eyes. Each is unique, expressive, carefully crafted and Black.
The show, at The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, leaves many visitors with more questions than answers. Since some of the dolls may have been created by enslaved Black women, the uncertain origins and provenance of the objects can feel uncomfortable.
“We don't know a lot about the dolls that make up the majority of this exhibition, but we do know that it’s likely that a majority of them were made by Black women,” says Madeline Rislow, the museum’s senior manager of learning and engagement. “We know, in a general sense, whose story they are telling and they are stories that have historically not been told.”
Little is known about the Black women who made the dolls, or who they were created for, but some researchers say the exhibit is contributing to a deeper understanding of Black history and creativity in 19th century America.
Since the show opened in June 2024, the museum has invited scholars and researchers from around the world to study the dolls. A two-day symposium will be a chance for some of them to present their findings.
The exhibit, “Portraits of Childhood: Black Dolls from the Collection of Deborah Neff,” includes 135 handmade dolls, and close to 60 period photographs showing dolls, children and adults posing for the camera.
“What's really groundbreaking about it is that we have a limited imagination about the capabilities and capacities of Black women historically — their desire to be known, their desire to play and their desire to create things in their image,” says Dr. Deja Beamon, an assistant professor of humanities and social sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, which houses the museum on its Volker campus.
Beamon, who will present her research at the symposium, says, even though the makers are unknown, the dolls reveal a great deal about the women who made them
“Black women historically did not have access to the arts, but that does not mean they didn't have an artist's fire within them,” Beamon says. “They found ways to express this artistic fire through their material and their everyday conditions.”
A Connecticut collector
The Black dolls collection began three decades ago, when Connecticut attorney Deborah Neff found the first of them among a table of antiques, at a folk art show in Atlanta. Neff was immediately drawn to the object, made from scraps of leather and a spool of thread.
"There was very little left of him," Neff says. "He's quite decrepit but a lot of care went into creating him, and he's survived and nobody threw him away."
Since then, Neff, who is white, has assembled hundreds of Black dolls. As her collection grew, she wanted to learn more about where and when the dolls were created. Because there is often little information known about the doll’s makers, Neff started working with Civil War textile expert Madelyn Shaw to study the fabrics that were used.
"She had wonderful insights as to dating and just has a very keen eye for observation,” Neff says. “We would sit and spend hours going over each doll, dressing, and undressing them.”
Raising challenging questions
Not everyone involved in the Kansas City showing is completely comfortable with it. For some, the exhibit raises uneasy questions about the origin and provenance of the dolls.
“Every time I go to sit in this space, it is a challenge,” says Natasha Ria El-Scari, a poet and the director of UMKC’s Women's Center.
El-Scari was part of the advisory board of UMKC students, staff, and faculty who collaborated with the museum to help display the dolls in a way that allowed time and space for reflection.
“It evokes a lot of emotions,” El-Scari says. “To see this exhibit, knowing that these dolls were made by the hands of enslaved women, it felt very visceral.”
In response to the advisory group’s feedback, the museum added a section for modern Black dolls from its own collection to bring the history into the present day. The group also suggested that the museum offer a place for visitors to contemplate, reflect and write down responses.
“Created at a time when African Americans were struggling with slavery, segregation, and systematic racism, these dolls served as silent witnesses to the pain and melees of their communities,” local fabric artist and doll maker Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin offered in one of the statements. “They also represented a form of resistance and self-expression, allowing African-Americans to assert their identity and humanity in a society that sought to dehumanize them.”
El-Scari says those elements are proof that the museum was open to a real conversation about how different generations of Black women felt about the exhibit.
“The museum did listen to us and those conversations were not easy,” El-Scari says. “It is complex, we worked well together, and it was worth it.”
Deeper histories and complexities
Madeline Rislow, the museum’s manager of learning, says the dolls offer an opportunity for scholarship. Since the exhibit opened in June, the museum has moderated conversations about it and hosted educators and students.
“We felt like we were the right space for a deeper dive into the historical significance of the dolls,” Rislow says. “We're never going to know everything about all of those dolls, but they provide a starting point for exploring these deeper histories and the complexities around them.”
Dolls from Neff''s collection were first exhibited in 2015 at the Mingei International Museum in San Diego. Since then, they have been shown at museums in New York City and Paris.
Neff says she has grown more reluctant to lend them out because the travel takes a toll on the dolls’ fragile bodies. But the museum's approach — giving researchers a chance to study the dolls over an extended period of time — convinced her to bring the collection to Kansas City.
She also knows her collection represents a time in history that many are reluctant to revisit.
"I think even people who want to discuss it are afraid," Neff says. "They're afraid of being misunderstood or saying the wrong thing, but the answer can't be to stop talking."
"The fact that they're dolls and that they're handmade is almost a kinder and gentler way to have that discussion," Neff adds.
Rislow says the exhibit has also been an valuable opportunity for the museum, home to one of the largest collections of historic toys in the country, to reach out to new audiences, and to help curators take a more considered look at their permanent collection.
“It's one thing to say that we embrace diversity and we want everyone to come in the door,” Rislow says, “but we also want to have objects on display that mirror and reflect everyone's experience.”
The Black Dolls Symposium begins at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6, at the UMKC Student Union Theater, 5100 Cherry St., Kansas City, Missouri 64110. Tickets are free.
“Portraits of Childhood: Black Dolls from the Collection of Deborah Neff” is on view through March 3 at The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, 5235 Oak St., Kansas City, Missouri 64112.
The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, on the campus of the University of Missouri Kansas City, is a financial supporter of KCUR. Our journalism is editorially independent of funders.
