- Japanese Friendship Dolls
Japanese Friendship Dolls or Friendship Dolls was a program of goodwill between the children of
Japan and theUnited States .Sidney Gulick , a missionary inJapan , initiated an exchange ofdoll s between children as a way to ease cultural tensions between these countries in the 1920s. A cause of these increased tensions was theImmigration Act of 1924 which prohibited East Asians from immigrating to theUnited States . Gulick participated in forming a group called the "Committee on World Friendship Among Children". In 1927, the first project was to organize the sending of 12,739 “Friendship Dolls” to Japan. These dolls are also known asAmerican Blue-eyed Dolls and arrived in time forHinamatsuri - the annual Japanese doll festival.Inspired by this act of goodwill, Viscount Eiichi Shibusawa led a collection in Japan to reciprocate for this gift. The best doll makers in
Japan were commissioned to produce 58 Friendship Dolls. Each doll was 32-33 inches tall and were dressed in beautifulkimono s made ofsilk . Each doll also came with unique accessories. These Japanese Friendship Dolls represented specific Japaneseprefecture s, cities or regions. The dolls were sent to libraries and museums throughout the United States.Over the years, a few were lost or are missing, but many are still on display today. Those whose locations are known include:
* Miss Aichi, sent toNashville, Tennessee , present location unknown
* Miss Akita at theDetroit Children's Museum inDetroit, Michigan
* Miss Aomori, in a private collection
* Miss Chiba, sent toRiverside, California , present location unknown
* Miss Chosen at theScience Center of Connecticut inHartford, Connecticut
* Miss Dai Nippon (or Miss Japan) at theSmithsonian Institution inWashington D.C.
* Miss Ehime, atGulfport, Mississippi , destroyed inHurricane Camille and replaced in 1988
* Miss Fukui, sent toSalt Lake City, Utah , present location unknown
* Miss Fukuoka at theJordan Schnitzer Museum of Art inEugene, Oregon
* Miss Fukushima, sent toHouston, Texas , now in a private collection
* Miss Gifu at theCleveland Museum of Art inCleveland, Ohio
* Miss Gunma, sent toBrooklyn, New York , present location unknown
* Miss Hiroshima at theBaltimore Museum of Art inBaltimore, Maryland
* Miss Hokkaido at thePutnam Museum of History and Natural Science inDavenport, Iowa
* Miss Hyogo at theSt. Joseph Museum inSt. Joseph, Missouri
* Miss Ibaraki (Tsukuba Kasumi) at theMilwaukee Public Museum inMilwaukee, Wisconsin - recently restored and now on display as the Messenger of Friendship
* Miss Ishikawa at thatMontana Historical Society inHelena, Montana
* Miss Iwate at theBirmingham Public Library inBirmingham, Alabama
* Miss Kagawa at theNorth Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences inRaleigh, North Carolina
* Miss Kagoshima at thePhoenix Museum of History inPhoenix, Arizona
* Miss Kanagawa, sent toEugene, Oregon , present location unknown
* Miss Kanto-shu, sent toManchester, New Hampshire , now in a private collection
* Miss Karafuto, sent toWilmington, Delaware , confused with Miss Nagano
* Miss Kobe-shi, sent toStanford, Connecticut , present location unknown
* Miss Kochi at theCarnegie Museum of Natural History inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* Miss Kumamoto, sent toNew Orleans, Louisiana , present location unknown
* Miss Kyoto-fu at theBoston Children's Museum inBoston, Massachusetts
* Miss Kyoto-shi at theArkansas Museum of Discovery inLittle Rock, Arkansas
* Miss Miyazaki, sent toMinneapolis, Minnesota , present location unknown
* Miss Mie at theUniversity of Nebraska State Museum inLincoln, Nebraska
* Miss Miyagi, sent toTopeka, Kansas , now in a private collection
* Miss Nagano, sent toProvidence, Rhode Island , now at theHistorical Society of Delaware inWilmington, Delaware
* [http://collections.rmsc.org/NagasakiTamako Miss Nagasaki (Tamako)] at the [http://www.rmsc.org Rochester Museum & Science Center] inRochester, New York
* Miss Nagoya-shi at theAtlanta History Center inAtlanta, Georgia
* Miss Nara at theIdaho Historical Museum inBoise, Idaho
* Miss Oita at theSpringfield Science Museum inSpringfield, Massachusetts
* Miss Okayama at theNorth Dakota State University Textile Collection inFargo, North Dakota
* Miss Okinawa at theCincinnati Art Museum inCincinnati, Ohio
* Miss Osaka-fu, sent toNewark, New Jersey , now at theOhio Historical Society inColumbus, Ohio
* Miss Osaka-shi at theNewark Museum inNewark, New Jersey
* Miss Saga, sent toPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania , present location unknown
* Miss Saitama at theCharleston Museum inCharleston, South Carolina
* Miss Shiga, sent toMiami, Florida , present location unknown
* Miss Shimane at theChildren's Museum of Indianapolis inIndianapolis, Indiana
* Miss Shizuoka at theKansas City Museum inKansas City, Missouri
* Miss Taiwan at theNatural History Museum of Los Angeles County inLos Angeles, California
* Miss Tochigi, sent toCharleston, West Virginia , present location unknown
* Miss Tokushima at theNorthwest Museum of Arts and Culture inSpokane, Washington
* Miss Tokyo-fu, sent toRichmond, Virginia , present location unknown
* Miss Tokyo-shi, sent toNew York, New York , present location unknown
* Miss Tottori at theMuseum of the South Dakota State Historical Society inPierre, South Dakota
* Miss Toyama at theSpeed Art Museum inLouisville, Kentucky
* Miss Wakayama at theNevada Historical Society inReno, Nevada
* Miss Yamagata at theMaine State Museum inAugusta, Maine
* Miss Yamaguchi, sent toChicago, Illinois , now at theMuseum of International Folk Art inSanta Fe, New Mexico
* Miss Yamanashi at theWyoming State Museum inCheyenne, Wyoming
* Miss Yokohama-shi, sent toSan Francisco, California , sold in 1980 to theDenver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys inDenver, Colorado References
* [http://www.stjosephmuseum.org/Hyogo/doll.htm Japanese Friendship Dolls] at the St. Joseph Museum (St. Joseph, Missouri) website - accessed February 27, 2007
*Slavicek, Louise Chipley, 1997. "A Gift of Friendship". American Girl Magazine, March/April, 28-31.External links
* [http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/dolls/media/magazine/amgirl.htm A Gift of Friendship, Louise Chipley Slavicek]
* [http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/dolls/index.htm Friendship Dolls, Bill Gordon]
* [http://www.janmstore.com/friendol.html A Mission of Friendship at the Japanese American National Museum]
* [http://www.bplonline.org/locations/central/iwate.asp Miss Iwate at the Birmingham Public Library]
* [http://www.mpm.edu/exhibitions/featured/friendshipdoll/index.php Miss Ibaraki at the Milwaukee Public Museum - Messenger of Friendship: The Adventures of Miss Kasumi Tsukuba]
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