DOLL CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN EVENTS 2026

April Zoom
The Thorne Rooms with Marianne Malone
As a child growing up in Chicago, the Thorne Miniature Rooms at the
Art Institute of Chicago inspired Marianne Malone to create her own
dollhouse worlds where her imagination could soar. Now an author of
literature for children, her first book series is set in those magical Sixty-
Eight Rooms. She will talk about that inspiration and about the woman
behind it all, Narcissa Ward Thorne. While Narcissa Thorne rarely
placed dolls in her rooms, one can easily imagine the 1/12 scale rooms
as a place where dolls could thrive.

May: London
Queen Victoria through her doll’s eyes
Carol Cameron
Queen Victoria’s dolls are one of the most famous doll collections in the world. But what is less appreciated is that Queen Victoria herself, was, and continues to be, one of the most popular subjects for doll artists, during her own lifetime up until the present day. This programme, “The Life of Queen Victoria, Told Through Dolls,” does exactly that – uses dolls to tell the wonderful story of the little princess who grew up to become one of our longest reigning and well known queens.

June: Zoom
Lancaster Dolls with Donelle Denery
So-called Lancaster rag dolls have always been a mystery as to who made them and when. Today, we can identify only about 50 of these dolls in private collections or museums. Since many of the small number that exist were found in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area, the dolls became so named. This program will tell about a family archive that led to the genealogy research which identified the makers of these charming cloth mask face dolls depicting people of color.

July London
Talk TBC
August Zoom
Steiff one offs and Prototypes with Rebekah Kauffman.
This talk features the different categories of Steiff’s sample and prototyping processes, and discusses why some items go onto full scale production and others do not. It also introduces the concepts of handmuster and workmuster, two Steiff-specific terms related to product design evolution and “gold standard” production. To bring all of this to life, I will share about 15 mini-case studies of Steiff samples, prototypes, whimsies, and end-of-day items from my personal collection and explain what they are, why they may have been made, and what makes them so intriguing from the collector’s perspective.

AUGUST
Visit To See Carol Camerons Collection.
Visit to a collection of stunning dollshouses from 17-20th century and of exceptional dolls.
Talk by Carol on one aspect of her collection

September London
Margarete Cohn and her Grecon ‘Little People’.
Presented by Zoe Handy
This talk will explore the remarkable life and work of Margarete (“Grete”) Cohn, creator of Grecon dolls’ house dolls. Beginning her business in Berlin as a young Jewish woman, Grete was forced to flee Nazi Germany in 1936 and rebuilt her career in London.
Drawing on years of collecting and research and a recently acquired archive, Zoe will trace the journey of Grete and her dolls from pre-war Germany to wartime and post-war Britain, right up to the early 1980s.
Illustrated with both pre- and post-war examples from the Zoe’s own collection, and including selected early findings from her forthcoming book, the talk will offer fresh insight into these characterful little dolls, including guidance on how they can be identified and dated.

OCTOBER
DAY OUT TO BRIGHTON AND THE WORTHING MUSEUM DOLL ARCHIVE.
Trains from London to Brighton to see the Brighton Toy museum. Then over to Worthing for lunch and a private viewing of selected dolls from the archive. Details of trains and times to follow.

OCTOBER 11th
London International Antique Doll, Bear and Toys fair. Kensington

October Zoom
The Magic of Automata : Mechanical Life as Entertainment
With Michael and Maria Start
Michael and Maria run The House of Automata in Scotland. They started in London 35 years ago as restorers and dealers of antique automata, this specialism combines mechanics with a multitude of different skills bringing objects as diverse as miniature magicians, dancing dolls and tiny singing birds back to life.
With personal insights into their work and what makes their world of automata so special, the presentation will show an entertaining variety of rare automata in action.
Maria & Michael Start’s talk will be live from The House of Automata museum and will be illustrated by demonstrations of automata from their collection.

November Zoom
Miniature paintings for Doll houses
Susan Dossetter

December London
Christmas Party
History of English Paper Dolls.
Lorna Currie Thomopoulos

  • Workshop: Decorate a magnetic paper doll fridge magnet, with Frances

December Zoom
Christmas Party

Additional trips to Chartres, Utrecht, Puppenfest, Ladenburger also in the pipeline.

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