A Black Doll from the Bowne House Historical Society Collection. Image Credit: The Textile Conservation Workshop, South Salem NY, 2022.
The Greater Hudson Heritage Network (GHNN) and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) have awarded Bowne House a generous grant to help conserve an important 19th century Black doll in the museum’s collection.
The doll will be conserved by The Textile Conservation Workshop, a South Salem, New York laboratory providing comprehensive services for the preservation of textiles. Workshop staff have identified 19th century black dolls as too often ignored in the past. They are now seen as evidence of the lived experience of their owners and makers, as well as a reflection of the larger forces of slavery and its legacy. Black dolls offer a unique prism through which to view race, representation and black lives.