Norwegian Folk Doll

MORE OBJECT COLLECTION IMAGES & DESCRIPTIONS COMING SOON

Stepping Stones is home to 10,000 items that belonged to the Wilsons that comprise our object collection. About twenty featured items will be displayed in this gallery soon. With the support of friends our future goal is to add pictures and descriptions of hundreds of objects in the collection to the an online system. Currently we are doing the same for our paper manuscript collection, which will have 10,000 documents available for you to explore. Donations of any amount help these efforts to share the materials and the history and stories behind them with friends from around the world.

LEFT: Folk Doll / Troll Doll, likely from Bergen, Norway, on view in the Wilsons’ Living Room, c. 1950

Prominently located in Bill and Lois Wilson’s living room at Stepping Stones is this folk art item. It is believed to be a troll doll received as a gift or bought as a souvenir from Bergen, Norway. The Wilsons may have  purchased it during their 1950s trip to several European countries or it may have come from one of the many thousands of visitors to Stepping Stones. The natural fiber, animal pelt, and wood doll recently underwent treatment by a professional object conservator. It was damaged and losing its hair. The treatment included applying an invisible mesh to secure the fibers. Today the doll is displayed in a custom, protective vitrine. It will be here to greet you when you visit!

Please check back to see 20 or more objects as we add them here soon.