IMAGINE YOURSELF at 152

This is Miss Hattie and she's 152 years old, so don't begrudge her appearance. At one point in her life in 1857 she was hot off the presses, crisp, and new. She was made by the Clark, Austin & Smith Company of New York and was part of a series of paper dolls they produced called "The Girls' Delight." She is but 3.75" tall. She is missing a dress, a cape, and two hats and oh yeah, an arm. 

I purchased her from a woman who purchased her from an estate sale. The estate belonged to a librarian who had collected paper dolls. That's as far back as I can go for Miss Hattie. I have no idea where she began her life, the first child that played with her, the stories that were told about her. How far she traveled these 152 years I'll never know, though when I purchased her she traveled across country from one shore to the other. 

I imagine she spent a lot of her "life" in envelopes neatly tucked away for safe keeping. At some point she stopped being a toy and simply became a collectible. Miss Hattie is my Tattered and Lost Queen.

Addendum: Today I received a very interesting comment about Miss Hattie. Instead of simply saying "click on the comments link" I want to publish it in whole. Thank you Anonymous for the information. I wish you'd left your name. I'd be thrilled to hear from you directly.

"I can tell you a bit more about Miss Hattie. She was the daughter of Cornelius Smith, who was the Smith of Clark, Austin and Smith (and also the brother of Winthrop B Smith who published the McGuffey readers). Clark was Lucius Ebeneezer Clark and he and Cornelius Smith were brothers in law. Miss Hattie was the 2nd paper doll CAS brought out, the first being Miss Florence, daughter of Lucius Ebeneer Clark and Miss Hattie's cousin. It was Lucius' (Miss Florence's father) idea (they were book publishers in New York City on Broadway) to bring out a series of paperdolls, based on a book called Paper Dolls and How to Make them by Anson Randolph (another contemporary NY Publishers). They sold very well, with minimal profit (According to the family geneology), but the idea quickly caught on and other publishers got into the business too. Eventually they sold the paperdoll plates to McLoughlin Brothers who eventually became Milton Bradley. I know all this because Lucius is my great-great-grandfather. Thank you for rescuing Hattie from obscurity. These dolls are beautiful, hand water colored by anonymous women artists of the day. It amazes me how well kids could cut with scissors in the 1850's (the dresses came on one sheet of paper in an envelope with the doll on cardstock and needed to be cut out)."