"This painted cloth doll is a reproduction of one of the pre-patent c. 1850-1860 Izannah Walker dolls in my personal collection. Made specifically for the Izannah purist, who values a strict adherence to original construction methods and materials. This is an 18-1/2 inch tall all cloth doll. Her head is made from layers of pressed stockinette and cotton. She has bare feet with individually stitched toes, and applied thumbs. I drafted the patterns directly from my antique dolls and made the molds for the pressed cloth head using the original dolls. The doll’s body is made from 100% cotton fabric, her head is stiffened silk stockinet, and her “second skin” is made from glazed antique linen. She is stuffed with organic cotton stuffing to match the stuffing in the original dolls. All painted areas on the doll were first painted with gesso and then several layers of artist oils."
"We do own doll head molds made by Reuben Bates. We have two, one of a female and male face, but not the back or cranium side if the molds. The accession numbers are 1987.29.1A, the female mold and 1987.29.1B, the male."Unfortunately the Rhode Island Historical Society is in the middle of a renovation which has necessitated moving many items, and so so they will not be able to accommodate a research visit for some time to come. But now we know where they are, at least.
"This additional information about a highly cherished example of an early American doll is indeed welcome. Collectors can, however, be doubly grateful to Mrs. Singsen for she has added to the data of this particular era of doll by making the amazing find of a rag doll with its original mold. Although undoubtedly inspired by Izannah Wlaker, this doll was created by a man named Reuben Harlow Neal Bates who was born in 1802 in Attleboro, Massachusetts. He was a pattern maker all his life residing for a number of years in Providence, Rhode Island probably about 1840 until his death. He was employed by the Barstow Stove Manufacturing Company and it may have been during hs work there that he developed the mold from which the "Bates" doll was made.
This mold is most unusual and interesting for it is of iron and therefore very heavy. One half, fitting down firmly and tightly on to the other, pressed the features and head into the desired shapes.
Izannah Walker commenced making her cloth dolls in 1840 and the similarity in type is what makes one believe that Reuben Bates had her dolls in mind when he made his own mold. So far as is known his dolls were never offered for sale. Perhaps they were made for his own large family, or for his friends.
"The body of this most interesting specimen," writes Mrs. Singsen, "is well made and is covered with blue cloth. The pattern for the body was in the possession of the lady from whom the doll was obtained as well as the mold, her husband having been a descendant of Reuben Bates, but at the moment she could not locate it. In the photogrpah, the mold to the right, is of rouse, the hollow part. Note also that the doll's mouth is slightly crooked and that one eye is higher than the other."
Kathy Duncan, a genealogist, has researched Izannah Walker in newspapaers from Izannah's time. We know Izannah is listed in a Central Fa...
