The George W. Cooper Doll Collection is named in honor of the elementary school principal under whose leadership the dolls were collected.
In 1935, students and teachers at Theodore Roosevelt School #43 contacted the then-existing 69 countries of the world. Through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, a school or organization was found which wanted to exchange dolls with the students of #43 school. The students offered to send to each country a Shirley Temple doll from the United States in exchange for a doll dressed in the traditional clothing of that country.
In 1940 the students and teachers of #43 school presented the collection of approximately 170 dolls to the Rochester Public Library. Since then, gifts from individual donors have brought the total number of dolls in the collection to over 200.
The doll cases were made in 1997 from some of the original card catalog units that stood in the Central Hall (now Harold Hacker Hall) of the Rundel Memorial Building. The corner cases were used to display the dolls in the original Secret Room, in the Children’s department on the second floor in the Rundel Memorial Building. When the Bausch and Lomb Public Library building was built in 1997, the children’s department was relocated to the second floor of that building and the dolls were transferred to the new Secret Room. In 2022 the Secret Room in the Bausch & Lomb Public Library building was renovated and the doll collection was relocated to be on display on the first floor of the Rundel Memorial Building, in what is now the Arts & Literature Division.
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NORTH AMERICA & OCEANA
Australia Aboriginal Child
Australia Aboriginal Girl
Canada Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman 1
Canada Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman 2
New Zealand Doll With Braids
New Zealand Doll With Cape
North America North American Indian In Green Robe
North America North American Indian With Child
North America North American Indian
United States Alaskan With Child
United States Alaskan With Hooded Coat
United States Amish Boy With Blue Shirt
United States Amish Boy With Cream Shirt
United States Amish Boy With No Beard
United States Amish Boy With Pink Shirt
United States Amish Girl With Dark Blue Dress
United States Amish Girl With Green Dress
United States Amish Girl With Light Blue Dress
United States Amish Girl With Purple Dress
United States Doll In Red Dress
United States Puerto Rico With Cloth Hat
United States Puerto Rico With Straw Hat
United States Seminole Indian
United States Shirley Temple
CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina Senorita Josefina
Ecuador Saraguros Indians With Weaving
Ecuador Saraguros Indians
Guatemala Man With A Pack
Guatemala Man With Brooms
Guatemala Man With Clay Pots
Guatemala Woman With A Broom
Guatemala Woman With A Clay Pot
Mexico Man With Clay Bowls
Mexico Woman In Brown Dress
Mexico Woman With A Shawl
Venezuela Aristocratic Old Man
Venezuela Sister Of Charity
Venezuela Woman Going To Church
Venezuela Woman With A Basket
Venezuela Woman With A Bundle
AFRICA
South Africa Beaded Doll Sm
Egypt Doll With A White Shawl Sm
Mozambique Wood Doll With Child Sm
South Africa Banta Woman Sm
EUROPE
Belgium Boy From The Campine Region
Belgium Girl From The Campine Region
Belgium Queen Marie Louise
France Isabelle A Bretagne
France Jeanette A Boulonnaise
France Lucelle A Bearnaise
France Nannette A Alsacienne
Germany Doll In Traditional Southern Dress
Hungary Girl With Floral Apron
Hungary Girl With Floral Headdress
Italy Doll With Fur Hat From Sardinia
Italy Wood Doo From Sardinia
Poland Boy With Black Coat
Poland Boy With Brown Vest
Poland Boy With Striped Pants
Poland Girl With Black Vest
Poland Girl With Brown Vest
Poland Girl With Cream Necklace
Poland Girl With Floral Skirt
Poland Girl With Red Necklace
Poland Girl With Striped Skirt
Poland Goral, A Highlander
Poland Lowicki Street Costume
United Kingdom Wolverton Girl
ASIA & MIDDLE EAST
China Four Of The Chinese Immortals
China Girl With Embroidered Shirt
India A Family From India, Child
India A Family From India, Man
India A Family From India, Woman
India Hindu Woman And Child
Iraq Doll With Plumed Hat
Japan Doll In Floral Kimono
Japan Dolls With Fan And Koto
Japan Female Companion Doll
Japan Male Companion Doll
Japan Master Hideo Yamato
Japan Miss Haruko Sakuragi
Japan Woman In Burgundy Kimono
Japan Woman In Cream Kimono
Laos Hmong Woman With Baskets
Laos Kneeling Hmong Woman
Myanmar Doll With Embroidery
Myanmar Karen Ethnic Group 1
Myanmar Karen Ethnic Group 2
Philippines Man With Straw Mats
Philippines Woman In Blue Dress
Philippines Woman In Pink Dress
Philippines Woman With Straw Mats
Russia Doll In Cream Dress
Russia Doll With Headdress
Russia Doll With Red Kerchief
Russia Doll With Tan Tunic
Turkey Doll In Salmon Dress
Turkey Fabric Doll In Blue Coat
