This is Victoria.
Victoria was my grandmother’s beloved doll. Even after my grandmother became a grandmother herself, Victoria always had a seat in a wooden high chair in her dining room.
My grandmother was born in 1910. When she was young, her father was killed in a trolley car accident leaving her mother to raise three young children. They lived in a cold-water flat in Newark, NJ, and my great-grandmother took in borders and worked as a housekeeper and seamstress to help make ends meet. I imagine a doll was considered a great luxury during this time.
I don’t collect dolls, but when my grandmother died, Victoria came to me. My father found a photo of the two of them. There is no date on the back. It is simply inscribed “Adeline and Victoria.”
The photo challenge was created by:
- Cathy from Nanacathydotcom
- Jane from Rainbowjunkiecorner
- Melissa from The Aran Artisan
- Sandra from Wild Daffodil
alookatthelittlethings 
I nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. 🙂 http://erinandsky.com/2016/01/19/one-lovely-blog-award
Thank you Erin
The doll is cute but I love the vintage photo.
Me too! Although it makes me wonder if she was allowed to play with the doll, or just gaze at it.
Oh what a lovely story behind Vintage. Love your pictures, both of them
I suppose they both count as vintage. I’m glad the old photo survived.
A lovely and touching story! I’m glad Victoria is your hands now, and that your Father has the lovely picture to share with you. :0
I’m glad too. I was surprised when my grandmother was gone that no one wanted her. She was such a part of my memories of my grandmother’s house.
The doll is so big it must have been a luxury. I love the old photo. Wonderful post.
So big! She is about 2 feet tall and heavy. I’m guessing she did not get dragged around like dolls are now.
How very precious! What a wonderful doll and story to go with it.
She is precious to me in more ways than one!
How wonderful it is that the doll has stayed in the family AND that you have that photograph! Both must be about 100 years old, right?
I will guess that my grandmother was about 5 years old or so in the photo, so 100 years is probably right. Her older brother had a camera and used to develop the film himself in a dark stairwell. I don’t know if he took this photo, but I like to think he did.
This nearly made me cry. So very touching. A lovely post for this week.
I also have a little cloth doll that my Mum made when she was about five. Just can’t bring myself to look at it at the moment. xx
So glad you have it. Even if you can’t look at it yet, you know it is there.
[…] at Alookatthelittelthings: family heirloom and story to go with […]
What a touching story!
It boggles my mind when I think of everything my grandmother saw during her lifetime.
Lovely blog. It’s very often the little things that make us smile and your grandmothers doll is a perfect subject for the photo challenge. 💚💛❤️💜💙
I’m lucky to have many of my grandmother’s things, but this one reminds me most of being at her house.