Antique Allure

I’m not really big on collectibles or knickknacks, I’m not really into fancy or dolls, but this Christmas a forgotten childhood wish was fulfilled, I got a Lawton Doll.  Mom handed me my present with the words, “this is a frivolous gift, and it’s something you've always wanted.” I’m always skeptical when I hear those words, never quite trusting them. In this case the history was there to prove her right.

I grew up going to church with the designer/owner of Lawton Dolls, in fact Wendy was my high school Sunday School teacher and her daughters my friends. Every summer, my cousins, brother(s) and I attended an event called Fun in the Son. Fun in the Son (or FITS as it became) was a church day camp where you got to select, crafts, activities or field trips you wanted to participate in. Well, by select I mean raise your hand and hope you got picked for your top choices. But there were two things that became tradition, you had to do them; 1) tour the pizza parlor, 2) tour the Lawton Doll Company.

At the end of both tours you got something, at the pizza parlor you got to “make” a pizza to eat, and at the Doll Company, you got postcards with pictures of the dolls on them. In my family those postcards became collectibles; not quite as precious to baseball or football cards, but not all that different in some ways. (Although I will say I ended up with my brothers’ postcards and I have yet to receive his baseball/football collection). Some postcards were more valuable than others, and you always hoped for ones you didn't have yet.

Postcard storage: Nicole's Lawton Doll Collection.
Please don't touch, thank you!

When I turned 9 years old, my parents did get me a porcelain doll, (which I have since given to my sister to play with), but not a Lawton Doll. I remember feeling confused by the gift, I mean I was nine years old and a tomboy, but also oddly proud of it. In other words, I was my normal, confused self. According to family lore, I shared this news with Wendy one Sunday in church, telling her about my present stating my parents, "got me a doll I could play with, not one that had to sit on a shelf.”  I believe Mom was slightly mortified, yet has always secretly found my childish interpretation humorous.

The childhood importance and awe of touring the factory will always remain embedded in my memory, although, I cannot, for my life, tell you how it started. Over time it has faded, to become a pleasant nostalgic memory. However, my Mother never forgot, and when she stumbled upon a bargain she scooped the dolls up gifting me, my three sisters and herself. (Imagine my confusion when there was a gift to her from us girls I had no knowledge of).

The best part is how appropriate the dolls she randomly ended up with, the characters from Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women. 

I got Jo, (of course), Suzi got Meg, Mary got Beth, (we gave her a hard time about being the one whom dies), Heidi got Amy, and Mom of course gifted herself Marmee. Not only that, she picked up a copy of Little Women to read to my sisters who have not read it. I can’t say they were thrilled, I don’t blame them, for once I was glad I wasn’t going to be around to be read to. But then we discovered it was only the first half, and at least for me, the sun shone once again. The reason I can’t stand Little Women is because the second half of that book is just flat out depressing.  According to my memory, (it’s been awhile since I’ve read it) is the first half is brilliant and fun, but the second half, is dreary.

This Christmas I got a Lawton Doll, the childhood spell recast and I think strengthened over my sisters, who never got to tour or collect cards during the company’s hay day. So here’s to bonding over a tomboy’s desire of a porcelain doll, and the quirky adventures and antics of the March sisters.