The Concord Museum has an exhibit on dollhouses right now, and I walked over to check it out. I’ve always liked dollhouses and even sought out one for Suzanne when she was in utero.
At the museum, children were playing happily with the sturdy contemporary dollhouse they were allowed to touch, but I suspect the people most intrigued by the glassed-in displays from the Strong Museum and various private collectors were the adults.
The Concord Museum is a history museum, and so I was less troubled by the accurate recreation of inequality in the miniature scenes than by the lack of relevant commentary in the placards. I couldn’t help thinking, for example, that some of the black schoolchildren who pass through the museum might be troubled by one dollhouse and might appreciate some discussion of the life of the servants in the attic and kitchen. But the placard was silent about wealth, poverty, and the legacy of slavery.
Another aspect of social history that seems fundamental to a discussion of dollhouses involves the many women who created them as a hobby.
Women who had servants in the attic and the kitchen were not folding the laundry. They were not cooking or tidying up. They were not raising their children. They did not have jobs. In short, they had almost nothing useful to do — a recipe for depression.
I often wonder about the psychological constraints that kept such women from giving themselves permission to go out into the world, as Jane Addams or Beatrix Potter did, each in her own way.
If making exquisite little worlds at home gave the dollhouse creators and their friends and families pleasure, that is a great thing in itself. If it represents a determination to create something fine when hardly any meaningful activity was allowed, then that is an even greater thing.
The dollhouse exhibit is up through January 15. Related events may be found here.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Very interesting to read your comments to the dollhouse exhibition. It tells me how easy the social history can be forgotten.
I would like museums to see through the eyes of the small child who comes to the exhibit and has questions that are predictable but hard to verbalize.
Oh this brings back memories for me…I love dollhouses as a young girl.my folks were too poor to be buying a doll house,but that didn’t stop my mom from helping me make a lovely one from card board boxes and old wallpaper.
What a beautiful memory, Deb! A dollhouse like that is worth its weight in gold. I see you get your talent from your mother.
I have to agree with you, that some acknowledgment of the representation of white and black, mistress and servants, would add a lot to this. I guess I’ve never thought about doll houses as documenting social history in such ways or providing a creative outlet for adult women. Much to ponder . . .
If I am generalizing too much about the women, I hope a reader will present another side. My view is based on women I met as a child (one of whom had a remarkable dollhouse) and on my reading about Victorians. But even today, I believe there are women like this. The Sondheim song about the Ladies Who Lunch is right on the money.
My sister visited this exhibit, too. She loved all the historic details!
The tiny furnishings were fascinating — quite perfect. And a member of the staff is making more in his workshop.