Every Object Tells A Story
I adore the fact that people keep objects whose value is sentiment and love. And the dolls and bears from childhood are particularly stuffed with it. I am always on the look-out for more pics of well-loved stuffies, please post if you have any! I wanted to share one from Talking Crow, and another from Needlebook. And the Museum where they treasure them.
From Talking Crow’s Flickr: “when i was two, i took raggedy ann to the hospital when i had my tonsils out. my mom then washed her – she lost her hair and i cried for days”
Talking crow also quotes the Velveteen Rabbit on her blog.
The arts of mending are long out of use. But Needlebook shows how she mends her brother’s rabbit, because the rabbit is now going to the next generation! My own favorite (and prizewinning in his day) bear came from my sister, and now her daughter has it! Needlebook darns holes, and prepares Rabbit for more love.
The Victoria and Albert Museum has created the ‘Every Object Tells A Story‘ website as “an online archive of stories about objects that people value.” You can submit stories, and images of your treasured objects. Here are a few images of bears, and stories behind them.
Stuffed and sewn mohair plush. Height: 18cm. Manufactured in Germany. ca. 1908. Given by Mr J.H.B. Gowan. See whole story about this well-loved bear in the Museum of Childhood.
It’s great to share these stories, and especially with the next generations- as it links us to each other as adults/children. And maybe it instils a respect for material objects, and resources beyond commercial greed and a value for things with ‘experience’.
March 24th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Thankyou for this lovely post. So evocative of childhood.
March 24th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Here’s a link to my needle book Rabbit post!
http://needlebook.blogspot.com/2006/03/most-lovable-rabbit-ever.html
March 24th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
wonderful, mending is underrated!
March 24th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
My daughter has had her DODO, as it is called here in France, all her 16 years of life. Her dodo is a stuffed bunny, though its shape is undefinable. I have mended it many of times, to the point of mending on mending.
It is loved. This post of yours resounds the tenderness I feel when I see the little bunny.
March 24th, 2006 at 9:32 pm
Not a softy… not a childhood toy… but I have had her over twenty years so does she count? my 15 March post. She brings back all the teenage angst that I felt when I made her, I was going through a punk phase and she has the hairstyle I really wanted..
March 25th, 2006 at 4:29 am
The funny thing is that my dad saw that Raggedy Ann on Flickr, he asked if it was “THAT one”. I said yes, it was the same one. He laughed and laughed, like he finally understood some part of my personality that hadn’t made sense before. I also have several other stuffies from when I was young (and generally speaking I have photos of me with them when I was small). When I’m old and crazy with Alzheimers I might not know what to do with my underwear, but hopefully Raggedy Ann will be there to remind of my life.
March 25th, 2006 at 4:53 am
I really liked your post about those well-loved stuffies. This reminded me of my first childhood memory of yarn, and of my beloved bear. So I just had to write something about it myself.
March 25th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
The most moving story attached to a teddy I’ve encountered was at the War Museum (Ottawa, Canada). A sweet, loved little bear was given by a little girl to her father going off to war. She asked her father to carry it with him, to remind him of her. This solier was killed just weeks before he was to return home. On his body was found this little bear.
I’m crying just thinking about it.
March 26th, 2006 at 1:14 am
This post inspired me to post about my favorite childhood object, Darby
March 26th, 2006 at 10:30 am
In February I digiscrapped a LO of my nearly 40yo teddy bear Flossie – it can be seen in my gallery at Digital Scrapbook Place here: http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=73967&cat=500&ppuser=29334
March 26th, 2006 at 11:32 am
i’m so happy my post here has sparked others to write about their own well-loved objects… i wish i was not so far from home and had things like this around me. it makes me homesick!
please feel free to add your links to posts in the comments on whip up. i’ve linked the posts mentioned above:
Darby
First memory of yarn
Not so softie, punk doll
thank you!
March 29th, 2006 at 9:12 am
Thank you so much for this post! It’s fun to see part of other’s past selves, rather than posts (on the internet as a whole) with little emotion in them. :)
“And maybe it instils a respect for material objects, and resources beyond commercial greed”
Though, I have to say that companies churning out bears and other beloved toys (in the past and now) , is probably more for commerical greed, than care of anything else. Not in all cases, but a good many.