Name/Title
DollEntry/Object ID
1996.163.0001Description
Skookum. 1913 - 1925+. Trademark registered in U. S. by Mary McAboy, for Indian Dolls; name was affixed to the soles of the feet with paper stickers. The word "Skookum" is Siwash for "Bully Good". These dolls had either dried apple faces or composition faces, and the bodies were built up from an oblong stick of wood and covered with an Indian Blanket. They were designed by Mary McAboy, who obtained design patents for a Brave and a Squaw.
Skookum dolls tall (approximately 3 feet tall) male and female dolls were donated by Nick and Mary Pill Ruth and Joseph Pill from Winona, Arizona and Mesquite, Nevada. The dolls were made about 1925/26 for Billy G. Adams who had a souvenir shop - trading post. Nick Pill had them in his store for over 50 years. He said the dolls are Navajo (Verde say Navajo do not wear their hair like that). Note: see information on Skookum dolls - tall dolls usually used as icons in Trading Posts/Souvenir shops focusing on Native American and western artifacts. The earliest of these display dolls date from the 1940's.
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