Posted 8 years ago
stevew
(1 item)
The Prairie Rapids Doll Club of Iowa would like to make an invitation to antique collectors that realistically could attend, especially in Iowa, to come to a special opening reception celebrating the renovation of the the Wilder Memorial Museum's fantastic doll collection of around 700 dolls. Chairperson Mary Wikert will briefly speak and other Prairie Rapids Doll Club members will be present to take questions. The reception is being held on Saturday May 28th at 1:00 PM at the museum. Refreshments will be served.
The Wilder Memorial Museum located in Strawberry Point, Iowa (1,300 pop) is a real gem located in the middle of Northeast Iowa. The museum exhibits thousands of beautiful historical artifacts and antiques in 25 different display areas utilizing approximately 8,000 square feet. To avoid confusion, this museum has no connections to the renowned author Laura Ingalls Wilder.
The Wilder Museum collections also include a multitude of military items, historical artifacts, Victorian furniture with in Victorian rooms, wonderful 19th Century hanging and “Gone with the Wind” lamps, large exquisite porcelain figurines, dollhouses, and toys. What is very exciting is that the museum can also boast that they have one of the better collections of antique and vintage dolls in the Upper Midwest. The museum was just remodeled in 2014, but most recently in February, March, April and May of 2016, the doll collection underwent major changes. The Prairie Rapids Doll Club of Iowa did a complete renovation of the collection and developed new exhibits and scenarios making the collection just stunning. The club as a whole put well over 2,000 volunteer hours into the project.
The Wilder Museum itself started from a donation from the Wilder family but the majority of the doll collection was donated from the two Hamlett sisters, the late Gladys (Hamlett) Kenneally (1896-1988) and Blanche (Hamelett) Baldridge (1893-1984). The two sisters were avid doll collectors and were longtime residents of Strawberry Point, Iowa. They had been members of the UFDC during its infancy. The sisters appeared to have been in the UFDC around two decades from the 1950s into the 1970s. They were also members of the Kate Shelley Doll Club in Iowa during this time. It was discovered looking through their scrapbooks that they had personally bought dolls and corresponded with doll artists like Dewees Cochran and Helen Bullard. The doll collection has some very rare and valuable dolls from the mid 1700s until the 1980s There ar some wonderful French examples as you can see in the photo on this post.
Strawberry Point is only a 20 minute drive north of U.S. Highway 20, a major east-west arterial which crosses the northern third of Iowa. Strawberry Point is only about a one hour drive from larger communities such as Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Decorah, Waverly, Prairie du Chien and the Mississippi River’s “Great River Road.”
The museum is regularly open all weekends in May, September, and October and then open daily from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Hours are: Sunday through Thursday 1pm-4pm, and Friday and Saturday 10am-4pm. Admission is only $7.00 for adults and lower rates for children and families. The museum is located in downtown Strawberry Point, Iowa, 123 W. Mission Street. For more information call museum Director Diane Formo at 563-933-4615 or visit their website at: http://www.wildermuseum.org/
We really hope to see as many collectors as we can! Your attendance would be a great tribute to the two women who donated these wonderful dolls and were UFDC and Kate Shelley Doll Club members. If you can not attend the opening please note other times the museum is open during the year!
