A Brief History of Paper Dolls

Paper dolls have been around almost as long as paper itself. When a creative child gets their hands on some paper it won’t take them long to make all sorts of things out of it including dolls. The Japanese have been doing origami as far back as 800 A.D. and these little paper sculptures could be considered dolls.

In Europe, the first paper dolls were made in France in the mid 18th century. They would fold jointed paper dolls that would sort of dance or jump and these dolls were intended to entertain people. The biggest producer of paper dolls in America around that time was McLoughlin Brothers which was founded in early 1800. In the 1920s the company was sold to Milton Bradley. After that the popularity of paper dolls continued to grow in the United States for several decades.

The Appeal of Paper Dolls

One of the reasons that paper dolls became so popular is because they are an inexpensive toy for children to play with. A child can make their own dolls with some paper, a pair of scissors and something to draw or color with. Companies that produce paper dolls do so very inexpensively so even if you are purchasing paper dolls it does not cost very much.

Children are able to use crayons or paint to create or decorate their own dolls. They can also get very creative making all kinds of different clothing for their paper dolls. Paper dolls that are produced by companies can be made in the image of a child’s favorite cartoon characters. Today on the Internet there are a lot of downloadable paper doll templates that make it easy and inexpensive to participate in this hobby.