Dollhouse
- Object Name:
- Dollhouse
- Object ID:
- 2014.037AB
- Place of Origin:
- Concord, NH
- Date:
- 1857
- Description:
- Dollhouse. Depicting a slave cabin. Made in 1857 for Anna Frances White (1852-1865) of Concord, NH, by an unidentified escaped slave traveling on the underground railroad. Rectangular pine box (A) with slanted roof and chimney, on a flat wooden slab. Painted red with white accents to simulate a house. Removable front panel (B). Two African-American figures sitting on chairs in a room with a fireplace behind a glass panel. Interior furnishings include table; stool; cupboard, mug, and candlestick on fireplace mantel; wall clock; wall mirror; two landscape paintings; oval hooked rug; and cat. Pencil notations about provenance by members of the White family on inside of the removable panel; also a typescript paper label taped to panel: "This cabin was made by an escaped slave, who went to my grandmother's house on Capitol St. in Concord. She sent him to the White Farm on Clinton St. and he waited there with other escapees until the next guide came through to conduct them toward Canada. Thus was the time whiled away. Rose W. Winship".
- Material:
- Wood
Pine
Glass - Dimensions:
- H-10.6 W-12.4 D-9.2 inches
- Provenance:
- Influenced by Quakers, Nathaniel White (1811-1880) and his wife Armenia S. Aldrich (1817-1916) were antislavery advocates and social reformers. They established their farm on Clinton Street in Concord, NH, as a stop for runaway slaves on the underground railroad. Slaves escaping from the South received food and clothing and rested for several days, hiding in an attic, haystack, or barn until it was safe to move north to Canada and freedom. In one case, an unnamed escaped slave who remained at the farm for several days in 1857 made a doll house depicting a slave cabin for Nathaniel and Armenia White's daughter Anna Frances, born May 22, 1852, died November 9, 1865. The dollhouse was passed down through generations of the family to Rose White Winship (1895-1981), then to her son, Stephen White Winship (1919-2011), whose heirs donated it to the New Hampshire Historical Society along with White family papers.
- Credit Line:
- Gift of Betsy Humphreys and Fay L. Hannon
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