About
this site
1. History and Acknowledgements.
This site, http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jshoaf/Jdolls/jdollwestern/, really began in Fall 1995 when I found, at an antique mall, a 5-inch paper folder (now used as my "home" button on this website, above) enclosing a foldout of photographs of the 1910 British Japanese Exhibition in London; the front and back of the folder represented the front and back of a Japanese doll, which had caught my eye since I collect Japanese dolls. Since then I have collected fewer dolls and more images of dolls, and have become fascinated by the relationships between Japan and America implied or represented by the image of the Japanese doll during the period between the "Opening of Japan" by American warships under Commander Perry, in 1854, and Pearl Harbor.In August 2001 I gave a talk based on slides at the convention of Japanese/Asian Doll Enthusiasts in Los Angeles. The reception of my materials by fellow J.A.D.E. members was warm and inspiring. The visit which had been arranged to the Japanese American Museum was inspiring in a different way, making clear to me for the first time the depth and vigor of anti-Japanese prejudice in parts of the U.S. in the first part of the 20th century. This prepared me to see the darker potential even in cheerful advertisements or charming children's stories. It was after this meeting that I began to catalogue my collection and to move it systematically onto the Web.
Elinor Fresh and Yumiko Hulvey encouraged me to give a presentation at the Association for Asian Studies/Southeastern Conference meeting here in Gainesville, in January 2004. This presentation will mark my launching of the site.
After this I may add pages to it but I will not add to the pages already existing (except to add corrections, which I will do in a red font to distinguish them). Therefore, the 2003 pages can be cited with confidence.
I am not a historian, and I have never formally studied Japan or indeed American history beyond the high-school level. I pursued my interest primarily via the internet:I have of course profited from access to the University of Florida libraries, especially the Baldwin Collection of children's books, and also from the comments of various U.F. colleagues and friends who took an interest in various aspects of the project, especially Jim Twitchell.on eBay, an endless source of popular culture images and items, including postcards, advertisements, and old books on various academic library sites, such as Duke University's sheet music archive and the marvelous Making of America sites at Cornell and University of Michigan through friendships struck up with fellow eBay bidders or the owners of sites that interested me, particularly including Rita Dubas (a Shirley Temple expert), Joanne Curry (fascinated by the Jap Rose Kids), Rob Oechsle (collector of "European geisha" images), Barry Malpas (who directed me to the Making of America sites), and Yumiko Yamamori (expert on the commercial relationships between Japan and the U.S.). There were other sellers and buyers who generously gave permission for me to use their images on this site. Thanks also to Shirlee Funk for giving me a print outlet for articles based on this project in the Ningyo Journal.
I also want to thank my husband and daughter, who have put up with the incoming stream of odd little packages, the outgoing stream of checks and later Paypal payments for postcards, ads, and books, and the clutter of items waiting "to be catalogued."