growingupinadollfactory

Growing up in a doll factory

Mark Farmer Co, Inc.

Yes, that's right, a china doll factory

Not many people have grown up in a china doll factory, at least not in the second half of the 20th century. My earliest memories are of dried slip clay curled up on the cement floor of the factory. I would step on these chips, and enjoy the crunching sound they made.

Here's my mother with some of the early dolls she designed. This picture appeared in the Berkeley Daily Gazette in October, 1952.

I played with the spare parts:

Ours was a mail order company. We sent out our catalogs all over the country twice a year. I've managed to find some of these on ebay:

catalog from 1971

I was often used as a model to feature other items we sold:

I was a devout tomboy, so putting up with wearing a dress is evidence of my good nature.

Here's a picture of dolls in the making:

Here's one of the dolls my brother made for the Opera house in San Francisco:

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse