The history of Annalee dolls

We recently presented an estate sale in Houston Springs that had some sweet little Annalee dolls. One of the neighbors turned out to be a collector of Annalee dolls, and she purchased the dolls to remind her of her friend who had moved away.  What a sweet and friendly group of neighbors we got to enjoy during that sale!

Annalee dolls have been produced in Meredith, New Hampshire since 1934.  These dolls are made of dyed felt and feature hand painted expressions. They have wired bodies so they can be posed somewhat. Annalee Thorndike and her husband, Chip, had a chicken farm, but when the farm went belly up in the 1950s, she had to get creative about creating an income. She made the coop into her design studio and Chip became the salesman. She thought she may be able to revive her childhood joy of making felt dolls during the Depression.

Annalee based her dolls on her mischievous sons’ activities such as skiing, sledding and other activities and modeled the facial expressions of the dolls from the sweet little faces of her children. Soon, Annalee couldn’t keep up with demand, and other homemakers helped produce the dolls from their own homes. The company made mostly human figures but soon branched out to animals in the 1960s. But during the 1970s, they started making the most collected figurine, the mouse series.

President Ford featured the Annalee Christmas figures in the Whitehouse, which introduced people all over the country to the adorable felt dolls that were available in not only people and animal figures, but also Christmas dolls of all sizes. The 1980s were probably the best years for the company as people started investing in collectible items. I remember first seeing the Christmas dolls in many of the department stores like Belks.  

If you would like to learn more about the dolls and/or company, you can read more and view the current catalog on www. annalee.com. Happy Collecting!

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