Meet My New Doll - Harriet Hubbard Ayer

Meet my new doll.  Harriet Hubbard Ayer.  She has a very interesting history.  She was made by the Ideal Doll Company on their P-90 body.  She was named after Harriet Hubbard Ayer, one of the first successful female cosmetologist creating her own successful line of cosmetics. But alas, as with most successful women in the 1800's, she was sabotaged and lost the business.  However her cosmetics were so good that the line continues even today.  The story of Harriet Hubbard Ayer will follow.  As all of my readers know I love to research my dolls and this one is more interesting than most.  I knew nothing about her when I purchased her.  I bought this doll, because as a collector of Ideal's Toni, I wanted each of the dolls using the P-90 body.  My doll was purchased as a basket case from ebay.  The pictures below show her as I received her.  I cleaned her and removed two light brown stains off of her face before the pictures were made.  A distinction this doll has over the other P-90 dolls is that her head and arms are vinyl.  Some of the P-90 dolls are all hard plastic, some have vinyl heads, but this one has vinyl arms also.  The coloring on her face is pale as she came with a cosmetics kit for her owner to apply her makeup.

These pictures were made after I wigged and dressed Harriet.  She is quite beautiful and has the most beautiful eyes.

 Read the following story of her rise in business in the 1800's and the betrayal that robbed her of the business she had worked so hard to establish.  Her cosmetic empire continues today and is  a German company that has nothing to do with the people who betrayed Harriet and robbed her of her business.   I love this doll more knowing about the person Ideal was honoring in naming her Harriet
Hubbard Ayer.  Knowing about your doll's history makes them mean more than just a pretty doll on a shelf.