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Diplomatic dolls from history

FIELD TRIP
By Gabriella Boston
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 17, 2007

A doll can be much more than a girl's best friend. As shown in the recently opened exhibit "Gifts From the World to the White House: Caroline Kennedy's Doll Collection (1961-1963)" at the Stephen Decatur House Museum downtown, dolls also can be tied to world politics, diplomacy and presidential history.
    "This is not your typical doll exhibit. Nor is it your typical diplomacy exhibit," says Katherine Malone-France, director of collections and programs at the museum. "This exhibit shows how diplomacy is not just the dry stuff of history books, but it's also about families and people interacting."
    The exhibit, which runs through Jan. 14, features 70 dolls from 30 countries, all given to young Caroline Kennedy and her parents in the early 1960s, mostly by various world leaders.
    A few of the dolls came from France and its first couple, Charles and Yvonne de Gaulle. When the Kennedys visited the de Gaulles in June 1961, they not only talked Franco-American relations, but Mrs. de Gaulle related to the American first family on a more personal level, too.
    She gave Caroline two large dolls and a playhouse from Au Nain Bleu (Blue Dwarf), a Paris toy store founded in 1836 and still operating. The red-and-white playhouse, which is 5 feet tall and complete with flower boxes, later had a place in Caroline's very pink White House bedroom. (A couple of framed exhibit photographs help illustrate.)
    The playhouse, which is on display, is inscribed with "Caroline" in gold letters.
    Many of the dolls, however, were not part of Caroline's everyday toy set.
    "Some of the dolls were official state gifts and were exchanged between world leaders," Ms. Malone-France says.
    For example, when Indonesian President Sukarno (the first leader of an independent Indonesia) visited the Kennedy White House in April 1961 to discuss economic development and the need for a treaty to ban nuclear testing, he presented a Wayang Golek puppet as a gift to the first family. The stick puppet has a blue face, which indicates that is it a "good" character.
    Why would world leaders give each other puppets and dolls? Is that really "presidential"?
    "I think it showed how enamored the world was with the Kennedys and their young children," Ms. Malone-France says. "I also think that dolls -- aside from being given as gifts to little girls -- can be cultural symbols and represent cultural identity."
    The Japanese dolls on display, for example, illustrate the tradition of the March 3 celebration of Hinamatsuri, or Girls' Day. This is a day when Japanese families bring out these dolls and pray for the happiness and health of their female children. The 13 Hinamatsuri dolls in the exhibit are displayed in a white bookcase, which is how most of the dolls are showcased.

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