Letters to the Editors

Winter Issue 2011

Hi Michael and David,
You've done it again! Another outstanding issue of Doll News. Thanks from the Maine-ly Dolls Club for including our junior collector birthday tea. Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful winter to you both.

Anne

Michael and David,

Doll News just came. I've been gone most of the day and have a lot to do before my kids come from Texas tomorrow for another marvelous Christmas. (Can't have too many, you know!) And I've been out of town visiting my mom at her nursing home, so work surrounds me.

So what did I do when I found Doll News in my mailbox? I sat down and looked at every single page. I just LOVE the doll patterns and the article on the little peg woodens struck home with me. I always enjoy looking at all of mine and noticing someone was a little "dreamy" when the eyes and nose were way too close together or crooked, or in some cases, not hardly there! And to have wonderful patterns, too. I had to go into my doll room, (a trip through a maze of unorganized chaos!) to find the little peg wooden I had to order from Pollock's Toy Museum in London. I'd been there in 1994 and bought a larger one and then decided I just HAD to have a small one. It is exactly 6 1/2" tall. So that marvelous author has made me very happy. My little doll will have a fabulous wardrobe! And I have a fake Bleuette, (some of us like them better than the old ones!) and now she'll have a new dress.

You outdo yourselves each and every time. I would so hate to be the editor following in your footsteps! I just had to tell you how much I love this magazine. Thank you for all the hard work!

Billie Aye
Tonganoxie, Kansas

Dear Michael and David,

I love every issue of Doll News since you guys took over - but this issue is particularly spectacular. The article about Rose Percy and the breath-taking photographs are unsurpassable! I'm looking forward to Rose's birthday party in May and will be sending in my registration tomorrow. How could I even think of missing it?! Thanks for all you do for UFDC - for all of us!

Kind regards, as always,
Laurie McGill

Michael and David,

I am sure you have heard it a million times, but Doll News is simply fabulous! Thank you,

Michele Murnane

Just a note of thanks for the wonderful job you are doing on the Doll News! Every issue seems better than the previous! I love the doll patterns and look forward to each issue to see if there is anything I can use for my collection of ladies without clothes...of which I am sorry to say there are many. I read it cover to cover, every detail, and know the members of Mt. Rainier Doll Club feel the same.
Thanks again for a job well done.

Maureen Isaman

Hello David and Michael,

I was blown away yesterday when my Doll News arrived and I saw Rose Percy on the cover. I am a docent at Mary Surratt and Dr. Samuel Mudd Historic Houses, dress in Civil War costumes, and collect Civil War dolls. My friend Faye and I also have been developing a slide program about the Civil War dolls and ran across the story of Rose Percy doing research a little over a year ago. At that time I found out about her being at the Red Cross Museum in DC and was planning a trip up there to see her and photograph her for my program. Shortly after finding out about her, I found out about the auction that was happening within weeks of my discovery of her in DC. I joined Heritage Auctions to find out what happened with the auction, but all I could find out was the price tag, nothing about who had won her. I am ecstatic to learn that you were able to get her and that she will be making a public appearance in DC. We want to attend the event for sure.

I am a member of the Southern Maryland and Black Eyed Susan Doll Clubs and would love to be involved with helping to make the event in DC a success when it is planned. Could I be notified when the date and time and other details are worked out so that I can be involved, or at least be able to attend it? Will it be announced in Doll News like the California event this spring?

Faye and I also attend the Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1860s Conference and have taken the doll program there a few years ago. We just enjoyed an appointment at the Museum of the Confederacy on December 17 with the curator and were able to see and photograph the two Confederate spy dolls (Nina and Lucy Ann) there along with all the dolls in their archives. It was a great experience and has added greatly to our program.

Well, I just wanted to let you know how excited I am about the wonderful article and photographs of Rose Percy and to know that you were the lucky winners of the bidding for her (along with your benefactor, of course.) What a wonderful thing to keep her here and with owners who appreciate her for her historical significance and share her with her fans. Thank you for that and for the wonderful Doll News publication that you have created. It is a great magazine that I now enjoy every time I receive it. Keep it up.

Sincerely,

Lynn Buonviri

Dear Michael and David,

You have outdone yourselves again. I have just received my Winter Issue of Doll News and have spent many happy hours reading this wonderful magazine. The quality of the issues of Doll News since you have become editors has been superb. Of course I loved the beautiful layout for Miss Rose Percy and will treasure the article and her photos.

I think one of my favorite additions you have made to Doll News is the website www.dollnews.org where you have added the printouts and supplements from the issues.
I always look forward to going there to see what additional treasures are awaiting me. Thank you for your innovation in creating this additional source for readers.

Your leadership in Doll News has been invaluable for our members and has allowed many of us to recruit new members to our clubs. I for one have been able to add 4 new members this year to our small but now growing Beecher Doll Club using the quality of Doll News as the recruitment tool. I look forward to the next issue and hope that when you are no longer editors, that your editorial influence will long continue.

Happy New Year to you both!

Sheryl Williams
Beecher Doll Club

Michael & David,

I'm writing you because I believe a job well done needs to be acknowledged. Doll Dreamers of Southern California are enjoying every copy of the Doll News since you have taken over. We really look forward to each issue. The magazine is a true masterpiece to be held on to and re-read for many years. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and research. I really enjoy the vintage Christmas article, the patterns are a wonderful plus, and the dolls each issue are so wonderfully presented. Thank you again, we love it.

Blessings,

Betty Lynch and the Doll Dreamers of Southern California

Dear Michael and David,

WHOOPEE!!!! I LOVE IT!!! The new copy of DOLL NEWS is just WONDERFUL! PLUS, you added a picture of our CLUB,
Southland Doll & Bear Club in the "Club News" --- We are soooo excited! Thank you, thank you!

Miss Rose Percy is definitely my favorite article and since I just loved seeing the pictures of the Convention Meal Events...the photography is splendid and the dolls are..........oh......oh.......oh my! Thank you for all you have done for UFDC and the publication!!!

Wish y'all could come down to our 2nd Annual Doll and Toy Sale on March 5, 2011! It was such a success, we've added another room this year! Thanks for placing the ad last year it REALLY helped--I'm sorry I forgot to ask again this year....

Thanks again,

Susie DuVall
President, Southland Doll & Bear Club

Dear Loretta,

Thank you for the lovely article and photos for the latest Doll News issue!!!!!!! You created a fabulous piece and I can't thank
you enough for the time and talent that went into this presentation of my work....big hugs!

And....Michael and David (and 'Doll News' staff) thank you for another 'over the top' magazine issue, my favorite issue so far,
with the article about Miss Rose being a priceless example of a doll representing American history, including the story of the behind scene effort to keep her where she belongs, in the United States of America!! I send my heartfelt thanks to Ada, Elizabeth Ann for their part of this story, and finally the 'Anonymous Benefactress' for making this dream come true!!!

Darlene Lane

Dear Michael Canadas and David Robinson,

Just had to write to you and let you know how pleased I was with your layout on Don Jensen's article on Georgene Averill. My dolls haven't looked so good in a long time!
Of course, I also had to read the article on Rose Percy right away. What a story! So glad she did not get away. Thanks for all your good work.

Sincerely,

Ursula Mertz
(Shaker Doll Club)

Hi,

Happy New Year to you both and I just wanted to say again what a fabulous job you are doing with Doll News. Our issues are now works of art to treasure instead of trying to unload them for a dollar at the local doll show! I have been traveling and just had time to look in mine on my way to California for a doll auction and I am so impressed with it. I am especially grateful that you have my wonderful candy box from the UFDC competition labeled correctly--Antique Doll Collector attributed it to someone else! Thanks again for your hard word--the doll world appreciates it!

Sincerely,

Margaret Hein
DenMar Dolls
Omaha, NE

Dear Michael and David,

I have been meaning to send you a note of congratulations for some months now, and upon receipt of the current issue of Doll News, I vowed to make sure I did it. Bravo! I am fairly new to UFDC membership, having collected dolls since my childhood, but never thinking to join a doll club. When someone I knew suggested I join the Doll Study Club of Boston, I really had no idea what was in store. However, I have come to find that it is an amazing way to learn about dolls and their history and make new friends. Another thing I was introduced to through it was the UFDC and Doll News.

When one first gets involved with such things, one often feels the desire to delve in and pour through as much material as possible. So for the first year at the doll club, I would often take advantage of our mini-auctions to purchase back issues of doll collecting books and magazines I had missed out in purchasing in previous years. So I was able to get quite a few issues of Doll News prior to your involvement. Then *your* editions came, and Oh, My! What a beautiful and interesting magazine! Whereas I used to pick through the other volumes to see if there was anything of interest, I read this one from cover to cover, twice sometimes! The entire production of this magazine has changed so drastically and so much for the better. I do not mean to demean what was before. The magazine certainly had a lot of good information. But this new version is just so appealing to me.

Some of my favorite articles from this recent edition was the one on Rose Percy and Lynda Christian’s story about wax dolls. Oftentimes articles in any doll collector magazine tend to focus on the obvious; there will be a picture or two and then the text that accompanies the article merely points out what one can see in the picture. Your articles are far more than that; they add history, anecdotes, and emotion. That is what I like to read. The fact that the doll has blue sleep eyes and is xx cm tall is nice from a recording point of view, but mentioning the lengths that were taken to ensure that Rose Percy remained here as an ambassador in the United States and all the hopes and fears that went with that… now THAT’S a story! So, thank you so much for all your hard work. You need to know that you are doing a wonderful job.

I look forward to meeting you at our fund raiser this year, as I understand you are coming out to do a program. It sounds like something that will be right up my alley, since I am very much into vintage garb and antique fashions for dolls. Some things I’d like to learn about, if you might perhaps touch on it, is the differences between hand-made doll clothing and that made by the couturiers; i.e. differences in techniques, matched articles of clothing, etc. If you look on my website, www.agesdesigns.com, you’ll see that I’m a fan of yours from another aspect as well. I like to make replicas of doll fashions, and there’s one there that was inspired by a Steiner C doll on your website.

Please keep up the wonderful work. It is truly inspiring.

Best regards,

Dale Rensing

Greetings!

How relieved I was when I received the latest issue of DOLL NEWS! Just knowing Miss Rose Percy has a wonderful new home in America, and that her fabulous belongings won't be sold off piece by piece is a comfort. As soon as I saw the article in ANTIQUE DOLL magazine, I immediately researched her story. Fascinating!!! I then shared her story and pictures with my Doll Club. I must say I was very concerned about her fate. So, a huge THANK YOU for your article.

Before I close, let me thank you for the wonderful changes you've brought to DOLL NEWS. I collect a variety of antique things and just love the outstanding variety you've presented in each issue. Such fun just to see what you've come up with!

Your friend,
Linda Glass
Pennyrile Doll Club
Hopkinsville, KY

Michael and David,

I understand that you two are responsible for Doll News. I used to belong to UFDC and somehow didn't renew my membership. A very close friend of mine told me about how wonderful Doll News is now that you have taken it over. I just received the winter copy and it is truly outstanding. I just ordered the back issues from when you took over, and I pick up the winter issue over and over again. I have known Lynne & Michael Roche for a long time and am enjoying that article. Thank you both for making Doll News something special. I love it!!

Isobel Weill

Previous Letters to the Editors
from the Fall Issue
can still be found here.