{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O64368"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O64368/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PH7324/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PH7324/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PH7324","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010ED1380","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010ED1705","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O64368/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O64368","accessionNumber":"B.493-1997","objectType":"Soft toy","titles":[{"title":"Golliwogg","type":"assigned by owner"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"A soft toy figure of stuffed brown cloth. The face is made of black leather with simple features. The eyes are white buttons, the nose a triangular cutout of leather and the mouth consists of two red stitched lines. The hair is black animal skin. The body is clothed with red felt trousers, a white cotton shirt with card collar and red fabric bowtie. There is a longsleeved blue jacket with tailcoats and six metal buttons, four on the front and two on the back. The buttons are each stamped with a crown. The feet are covered with black leather.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"leather","id":"AAT11845"},{"text":"cotton","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"felt","id":"AAT14107"},{"text":"skin","id":"AAT11840"},{"text":"card","id":"x30344"}],"techniques":[{"text":"sewing","id":"AAT257459"},{"text":"stuffing","id":"AAT231130"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Sewn and stuffed cloth and leather","categories":[{"text":"Dolls & Toys","id":"THES48967"},{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Soft toys","id":"THES274376"},{"text":"Literature","id":"THES284210"},{"text":"Racism","id":"THES282155"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"YVA","id":"THES48593"},"images":["2025PH7324","2010ED1380","2010ED1705"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES324093"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"soft toy","id":"AAT211332"}],[{"text":"doll","id":"AAT211087"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"Yes-racial-stereotyping","note":"Term 'golly'/'golliwogg'"}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"United States","id":"x29333"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1880s","earliest":"1880-01-01","latest":"1889-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"B.494-1997","id":"O64578"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"B.495-1997","id":"O64579"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"B.496-1997","id":"O64577"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"B.497-1997","id":"O64580"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"B.498-1997","id":"O64581"},"association":"Group"},{"object":{"text":"B.499:1-1997","id":"O1115321"},"association":"Group"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"32","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This is the original golly owned by Florence Upton, upon which she based the eponymous hero of a series of books illustrated by her with verses written by her mother, Bertha. The doll had been given to Upton and her sisters whilst living in the USA, although they had left it at their Aunt Kate Hudson’s house in London during an earlier visit. Upton retained the 'Golliwogg' and the Dutch Dolls until 1917, when she donated them to the Red Cross, to be sold in support of the First World War effort. The lot included the dolls, a complete set of original drawings for eleven of the 'Golliwogg' books and the manuscripts for four of the books. The collection was purchased for 450 guineas, which allowed the Red Cross to fund and equip an ambulance named after the 'Golliwogg' to serve in France. The dolls resided for many years at Chequers, the official residence of the Prime Minister, before being acquired by the V&A Museum of Childhood in 1997. [RF:97/819]\n\nThe original golly was a central character in a series of books published between 1895 and 1909. Bertha Upton (1849–1912) wrote the books and her daughter, Florence Kate Upton (1873–1922), illustrated them. They based the character ‘Golliwogg’ (as it was originally spelled) on a doll Florence owned as a child growing up in 1880s America. The appearance and clothing of the doll (see B.493-1997) is based on the ‘blackface minstrel’ figure, a 19th-century racial caricature of African Americans. Blackface minstrel shows were performed by white actors and singers, who parodied African Americans by darkening their skins with shoe polish or burnt cork. These portrayals perpetuated many negative stereotypes and were steeped in racism. The shows originated in the USA, with the first widely known blackface character, ‘Jim Crow’, appearing around 1830. Soon after it became popular in the UK, which developed its own blackface traditions. \r\n\r\nFlorence moved to the UK in the 1890s, where the Uptons’ books became very popular. Their Golliwogg character was not copyrighted, allowing multiple representations of the golly to enter the public domain. The character featured in British toys, games, textiles, ceramics and children’s books, and was used as a mascot by the food manufacturer, Robertson’s, from about 1910. From the 1980s the character’s popularity began to wane as campaigners fought against the racist stereotypes that the golly represented. Robertson’s continued to promote the figure as part of a British ‘national tradition’ until 2001, when they stopped using the golly in their branding.  ","historicalContext":"The dolls were originally purchased by Faith Moore, Lady Lee's sister, at a Charity Auction during the First World War prior to Lord Lee's gift to the nation of Chequers in 1917.\r\nLoan to Bethnal Green Musuem in 1990.","briefDescription":"'Golliwogg', a leather and cloth golly doll, probably made in the United States, ca. 1880","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[{"text":"Chequers","id":"THES396642"}],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[""],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"The black doll is modelled on a blackface minstrel, a racist caricature common in Britain at the time. In the Upton books he is called 'Golliwogg' and is portrayed as an unsightly but chivalrous friend to the Dutch dolls.\n\nThe golly became one of the most popular children's characters of the 20th century despite the racial stereotype he presented.\n\nDisplaying this object shows how children's toys reflect the attitudes of the period in which they are made and used, a way of thinking we may find offensive today.\n\n[display caption from ca. 2010 - August 2019]","date":{"text":"ca. 2010-2019","earliest":"2005-01-01","latest":"2019-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["B.493-1997"],"accessionNumberNum":"493","accessionNumberPrefix":"B","accessionYear":1997,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-12","recordCreationDate":"2002-03-14","availableToBook":false}}