Dolls at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair

By Florence Theriault

It was a new century. The 1900s! And America, building upon its grand growth in the previous century, determined to prove itself to the world. What better way to do this than an International Exposition?

True, there had been the splendid Chicago Exposition of 1893 whose extraordinary wheel of George Washington Ferris had challenged the magnificence of the Gustave Eiffel’s tower at the 1889 Paris Exposition. Even earlier had been the celebrated 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. But now it was 1904 and what better challenge could there be than one American city challenging another. The 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition – more known as the St. Louis World’s Fair – proved to be that worthy challenger.

Although little remembered today**, the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair was immense, spanning 75 miles of roads and walkways over 1200 acres. There were 1500 buildings created for the Fair including the Palace of Fine Art (which today houses the St. Louis Arts Museum) and exhibitions were presented by 62 foreign nations and 43 states. Among these exhibitors were doll and toy manufacturers from Germany, France, Japan and, of course, the United States. These exhibits provide an accurate synopsis of the international doll scene at that time.

The French doll industry, for example, which had been dominant in international expositions throughout the 1800s, was vastly subdued.

The famed French doll historian, Henri-Rene D’Allemagne, in his book Les Jouets a la World’s Fair in 1904 en Saint-Louis, explained this by criticizing U.S. custom duties that were charged on importations. He noted “there was no practical advantage in meddling in a matter which constituted a waste of time and money for them … and that ultimately, customs duties were such that exhibitors could not hope to profit from their trip”. Nevertheless, some firms did display including Leopold Lambert who won a Medaille d’Or (Gold Medal) for his automata and Monsieur J. DuSerre whose vitrine displayed “richly dressed bébés which were the joy of all the young Americans” and who was awarded a Medaille de Bronze.

Meanwhile the German exhibition was a collaborative display of Sonneberg dolls from various makers. The dolls were the object of awe from all on-lookers. According to Henri d’Allemagne, who described the display in his book, it depicted a large doll seated on a camel, with toys and dolls in baskets completely surrounding her, centering a large group of wonderfully costumed dolls as villagers. He also noted that in the vitrines were other “petite Marquis and Marquises copies de nos plus jolies modeles françaises” and whose execution leaves nothing to be desired, a remarkable admission of from a proud Frenchman!

Most notable of the German entries at the Exhibition, however, was that of Steiff. D’Allegmagne noted the excellence of colorful felt birds which they presented, but also lamented the exhibited “caricatures of gendarmes and other grotesque characters which seemed to us to be of the most dubious taste”.

Astonishing in retrospect, what he did not mention was the teddy bear which made its public debut at the fair. The bear had been introduced at the Toy Fair of 1903 to utter failure until an American buyer, recognizing the celebrity power of Teddy Roosevelt to the American public, bought the entire initial production of 100 bears and ordered another 3000. This premier Teddy Bear was presented at the 1904

The Japanese presence at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis is well-detailed in the extraordinary work, Art As Ambassador, The Japanese Friendship Dolls of 1927, by Alan Scott Pate. This exhibition was three times larger than at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 or the Paris Exposition of 1900. Notably, the main entrance to the exhibition featured a display of two dolls posed in a traditional tea-serving ceremony.

It was an American, however, who won a Grand Prize for Innovation at the 1904 Exposition. Ella Smith, who had worked as a seamstress and then turned to doll repair of the German and French bisque dolls owned by children in her hometown, began to experiment with ways to create a sturdier doll. So came about the Alabama Baby, marketed as “indestructible”. After winning the St. Louis Fair award, Ella Smith, capitalizing on her success, patented her doll and eventually produced about 8000 dolls a year in her back yard factory throughout the early 1900s.

For doll collectors who more and more seek to study and appreciate their dolls within a wide historical context a study of the 19th century International Expositions is most fruitful. This is especially true for the century-long period from the 1851 Crystal Palace Great Exhibition in London until the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. In each of these Exhibitions the doll played a role, sometimes as a product of a thriving doll industry, sometimes serving as miniature mannequin for the fashion industry, sometimes as a symbol of what could be achieved by changing materials and technology.