The 95 dolls on display from our collections are mostly educational in nature, and many are handmade.
32 of the dolls were donated by LuAnn Yoast and were made or collected by her mother, Lucile Hightower for use at Forest Avenue Baptist Church for mission trainings and Bible studies.
37 of the dolls were donated by Jefferson School and were used in the 1970s to teach about ethnic clothing. All of the dolls represent countries, and each has a label designating the country of origin.
3 dolls are very old (two are dated to pre-1895 and one is dated 1901 by family records) and were donated by prominent Sherman families.
We have very little information on the remaining 23 dolls on display and I would love for members of the community to come look at these dolls and talk to Betsy Deiterman, Museum Director, if they recognize them! We would like to be able to tell their stories accurately.