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For five straight years I've attended the United Federation of Doll Clubs national convention.  Its a week-long festival jam-packed with doll fun, education, and shopping attended by 2,000 doll collectors from all over the United States and the world.  My yearly "Diary Of A Mad Doll Collector" which recounts my experiences at the convention has become something of a tradition on this site.  This is my third annual installment-- "Diary Of A Mad Doll Collector 2001: The UFDC Atlanta Convention."  

Friday, August 3, 2001:  Arrival

I leave frightfully early on Friday morning (two hour drive to the airport, plane change and time zones made traveling to Atlanta an all-day affair).  Now, many of you may ask WHY I left on a Friday morning if the convention doesn't start until Sunday, with the full "plate" of events getting into full-swing on Monday.  Well, prior to the convention a few things happen--there is the Rowbear (satellite/parasite ...your choice) Doll Show which previews on Saturday night, the Frashers auction on Saturday, and the Theriaults auction and JADE (Japanese American Doll Enthusiasts) and ODACA (Original Doll Artist's Council of America) show on Sunday, as well as UFDC pre-registration and Dynamic Dialogues on Sunday.  For the past two years, I've tried to arrive mid-day on Saturday to attend the Rowbear Show preview and then be well-rested for the Theriaults auction.  Alas, United Airlines had different ideas and they managed to get me to the convention EXTREMELY late on Saturday night both  years.  Finally learning my lesson (sigh-no, I can't ditch United Airlines since I have all my frequent flyer miles with them) I left a full DAY early to arrive on Friday.

So, this year I was only about 1 1/2 hours late (figures!) and I arrived at about 9pm, but the plan worked since I arrived stress-free to meet my roommate, Arleen Niblett, good friend and president of my local doll club, Just About Dolls.  Being unbelievably excited about being at convention (it was Arleen's first--a convention virgin!) we stayed up way too late talking about the week to come. 

Saturday, August 4, 2001:  Me and the American Girl

Getting in early worked out beautifully!  We decided to sleep late and have an ultimately relaxing day (something I NEVER get to do at convention) and not attend the Frashers auction.  We explored the hotel, the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, which is a huge hotel with rooms on the main tower set around a large, open atrium--21 floors and you could look STRAIGHT down from each floor over the railing.  You could also get a good case of vertigo looking out from the glass-enclosed elevators on the way up to our room, since Arleen and I were on the 19th floor.  Some convention attendees hated the elevators so much that they wouldn't look out the window while the elevator was  moving!  After our exploration, we had a leisurely lunch, and checked out the mall that was attached to the hotel via a glass-enclosed walkway.  Not much shopping at the mall (good thing--more money for dolls!) but there was a very nice food court with reasonably priced food.  We had a good dinner there, then headed out to the Rowbear preview which opened at 5pm.  Shuttle buses were provided for the show.  

Getting into the show for the preview was expensive ($25) but its always worth it to be one of the first collectors at a show like this.  For example, FIRST thing in the door, 10 minutes into the show, I spot an American Girl Barbie from 1965 with long hair for only $200 (now, how long do you think THAT would have lasted?).  I snap the gal up, try to suppress the "happy doll dance" and then take a quick look around the rest of the show before exploring each dealer's offerings at length.   In general, this year's Rowbear show was a haven for dollmakers with many, many dealers offering fabrics, trims and molds.  There was also a good variety of antique, vintage, artist and modern dolls--a bit of something for everyone.  I was excited to find a VERY limited edition Alex doll (Madame Alexander fashion doll) being sold by FAO Schwarz at the show.  The doll was beautiful with her enhanced face paint and silk suit, and a relative bargain at $90, since her edition was limited to only 200.  Arleen finds some nice things too--we both get some wonderful trims, and we split the cost of a mold to make a darling little Bru repro.  We stay till nearly closing (10pm) and then head back to the hotel.  Of course, our day isn't over yet, and we meet up with Chris Weatherly (CWeather at About) and Holly Kerfoot (Hkerfoot at About) for drinks.   This was wonderful--we've all known each other on the Internet for some time, but it was the FIRST time I met Holly in person, and the first time Holly, Chris and Arleen had met.  It seems like we are TRULY all old friends, and we, again, stay up way too late talking.

Sunday, August 5, 2001:  Going, going GONE...But Not To Me.

We pick up our convention registration packets as SOON as they are available on Sunday morning, and we find out a surprising thing--there is no convention journal in the packet!  The journal is a lovely souvenir book that every convention attendee always receives with the packet.  We find out that due to some shipping glitch the journals haven't arrived, so we'll have to wait until later in the week to receive them.  Well, no time to dwell on this--off to the Theriault's auction!  I sit with Chris, Holly and Arleen.  I am bound and determined to get one of two dolls at this auction, and I think I have a very good shot at them. The wait is excruciating, since the items are near the end of the auction.  I save up ALL my money for bidding on these two dolls...so I sit on my paddle till they come up.  Do I get one?  Alas, NO--prices at the auction were very strong (bad economy?  WHAT bad economy?) and both of the dolls I have waited and waited for all auction long exceed the price I am willing to pay.  Well, at least I got a yummy ice cream sundae at lunch time (a Theriaults tradition).  Chris bought two LOVELY antique Kestner dolls.  Now, the annual pre-UFDC convention Theriaults auction is something of a marathon--the previews for the main catalogued auction start at 9am, and the auction is back-to-back with a Discovery Day (uncatalogued) auction that often goes until 11pm or midnight.  SO...I of course stayed for the Discovery Day auction.  Although I DID get some wonderful items (a Martha Chase baby doll, a bag of old lace, and some fabulous old post cards that I will be sharing with everyone in the Clip Art Gallery) I am disappointed in a lot of all-bisque dolls that I won which had much more damage than I was able to see during the preview (some damage is hidden under sewn-on clothing, and you REALLY have to check at the uncatalogued auctions which are advertised as "buyer beware").  Of course, being gluttons for punishment that never quit, we again have drinks at the hotel (we sound like lushes--let me just point out that 1/2 the group had non-alcoholic drinks and the other 1/2 never ordered more than one drink at these get-togethers, so "drinks at the hotel" is really code for "chatted for hours..") 

Monday, August 6, 2001:  Seminars and Storybook Dolls

True convention madness begins!  Convention is like a three-ring circus--no matter WHAT you are doing, there is something else that you ALSO wish that you could be doing that is going on at the same time.  I start off by teaching two back-to-back three-hour seminars on "Doll Collecting and the Internet."  This year, I taught two different sessions--a "Beginners" class in the morning, and an "Advanced" class in the afternoon.  I am tickled to find that I have some return students from prior years in both classes.  The seminars do go well, with an especially GREAT beginners group which asked tons of good, engaging questions.  .  In between the seminars, I sandwich in a luncheon event, "Lisette and Lilly Go To Lunch."  The event was a bit more low-key than most, with a short program on how to dress small dolls.  The luncheon favor was a lovely dress and hat for Lisette, the Cathy Hansen 1998 Convention favor doll, or for Lilly, a favor doll from 2000 (my Lisette had been naked since 1998, the poor thing).   After lunch, I have the Advanced Seminar, and the afternoon group was a bit tougher, since there were several levels of advanced students.   At the end of the advanced class, I could hardly speak after talking for nearly 6 hours (an extremely rare event, or so my friends at convention told me...).  

I meet up with Arlene and Holly for dinner--we have to say goodbye to Holly (too soon!), who could only come to Atlanta for the weekend.  We also meet up with Chris, and have a photo taken before we say goodbye.  Then, its off to the grand opening ceremonies of convention!  Several thousand doll collectors all convened at once--its an amazing feeling.  At the opening ceremonies, the UFDC Awards of Excellence are presented.  The program is the "Little Stars of Toyland," about Nancy Ann Storybook Dolls.  Besides the history of the dolls, the slides present some extremely rare and mint Nancy Ann gift sets that I had never seen before.  

The final event of the day was the opening of the convention show room, that took place immediately following the opening ceremonies.  Getting into the room was slow this year since there were stairs to enter the room, and no one wanted a collector to get injured in the usual mad dash that generally accompanies the show opening, so things were, happily, slowed down.  Once in the room, everyone runs off to their favorite spot.  The UFDC Supply Booth selling special limited items was very crowded this year, since a limited Cissy doll was sold there, as well as a limited Cathy Hansen reproduction of "Marie Louise," the antique Smiling Bru fashion doll owned by the founder of the UFDC, Mary Lewis.  "Marie Louisette," the reproduction, was only 6" tall with a leather body, trunk, shoes and other goodies.  Sold for $350, she was limited to 300 pieces AND she was also was a fundraiser for UFDC.  I DID purchase this item, since I am a big Cathy Hansen fan, and it was for a good cause.

Off to the Cathy Hansen booth, where I added more of Cathy's miniature magic to my collection (and, yes, it was crowded as usual).  Then, I did a careful examination of as many dealers offerings as I could (the show room was so big there was no way to take it all in in one night).  I left the evening feeling better about not getting a special doll at the auction on Sunday, since I found TWO lovely ladies to add to my collection from a favorite dealer.  By the time the show room closed (11 pm) I was broke, with no money left for the rest of the convention.  I LIKE to think this was a typical experience for many of the convention goers. but of course, Arleen and Chris carefully examined options and did not run off and spend all of THEIR money the first night.  Of course, we had the obligatory drinks back at the hotel during which we shared our new doll treasures with one another.

Don't Miss Part II:  Tuesday through Saturday:  Dolls, dolls and more dolls!

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