DOLL EXHIBIT ON DISPLAY AT LIBRARY

The Tompkins County Public Library will display The Dora Erway Doll Collection in its Avenue of the Friends through December.

A collection of 37 historically accurate, period and native costume dolls made between 1924 and 1928 by Cornell University students, the dolls were made under the tutelage of Dora Erway. Erway, an assistant professor of home economics, used the dolls as a method of teaching the history of costume and design.

Many of the dolls dresses are exact replicas of authentic gowns and feature materials which were more than 100 years old when the dolls were made. Undergarments are also authentic and many of the hairstyles were made from the students own hair.

The collection was given to Cornell by Dora Erway in 1957 and is housed in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections of Kroch Library. The Collection is on loan to TCPL for the months of November and December. Last displayed at the Library in 2008, the dolls were returned to TCPL at the request of community members.

For more information, contact Sally Grubb at (607) 272-4557 extension 232 or sgrubb@tcpl.org.