DOLL COLLECTOR GALLERY
MAMMY AND UNCLE PETER
submitted by Barrie Lee Johnson
Here
is what I know. I was the daughter of a family who owned a summer camp in Maine, and
a woman who ran our waterfront program named Thelma Jones was from Richmond Virginia.
I was like a granddaughter to her, and one year she invited me into her cabin
called "DIXIE" I was about 10 years old... and showed me these two dolls which
she referred to as "Mammy and Uncle Peter".
She said that she wanted me to have these dolls when she became too old to return to camp, and every year from that time on, Thelma Jones a school teacher with deep southern traditions, and I would celebrate the beginning of Camp by bringing out Mammy and Uncle Peter from a secrete hiding place in an old wooden truck which she kept at camp, and placing them over the mantel on her fire place. At the end of the summer, we would repeat the tradition and wrap them in original tissue, place them in the hidden, cedar trunk compartment, carefully using a small rolled up tissue under Mammy's skirt so not to squish her laced slip.
I grew up...Thelma, a spinster grew old and some how I did receive these wonderful dolls. My life through the 60's, 70', 80' and 90's has gone so fast. The camp was sold, I am sure Thelma is dead, and I have had these dolls on the mantle of my fireplace for years. They are loaded with dust. Very fragile, but unbelievable sturdy. I know she said they were made and given to her by a slave, or to someone in her family who owned slaves.
Thelma Jones certainly, Mammy and Uncle Peter most probably, must have deep historical roots somewhere in Richmond, Virginia. The first thing I want to do, when I retire is trace the history of this wonderful woman, who spent tireless years teaching children of all ages, races, and nationalities, in her soft southern drawl. I only knew of her life in Maine at camp.
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