Child's Play

This mid-19th-century doll was donated to the HBC Museum Collection in the 1950s — even though it seems to have no connection to the Hudson’s Bay Company or its history. According to the original ledger, Queen Victoria was touring the royal estates and met a young girl who was deaf and unable to speak, so she sent her this doll as a gift.

It’s an excellent example of dolls from this period. The wax face, which now might be described by some as creepy, was once likely appreciated for its accuracy, along with the mohair ringlets mimicking real human hair. Perhaps it was the connection to Queen Victoria that prompted the curator to accept it into the HBC Museum Collection, but it remains a strange curatorial choice.