September 2026 is the fifth anniversary of my website, A Tale of Two Hittys (see “Five Years of Fun”). Many of the articles have been about Ancestor Hitty (see “Who is Hitty?“). I made a reproduction of Hitty’s Library Dress for the Stockbridge Library. Bill Fifer shared his archive of Hitty photos and articles with me. Doll artist Michael Langton talked about his Stockbridge Library Hitty reproductions in an interview. For the doll makers among us, I shared information about Hitty Dimensions and Carving Hitty. I created a new character called “Flat Hitty.” based on Dorothy Lathrop’s illustrations. Last but not least, I adapted the first two chapters of Hitty: Her First Hundred Years for young readers using new, colorful illustrations: “Hitty’s First Adventure” and “Hitty and the Crows.”
With every article I wrote, I learned a little more and gained an even greater appreciation for Ancestor Hitty. She is the center of the Hitty world: a focus for all collectors and admirers who share a love for a simple wooden doll.
I know that many of my readers would love to be able to play with the real Hitty doll and her wardrobe. Of course, she is much too fragile to be handled. That’s what led me to create an actual size Hitty paper doll. The first version appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of Doll News Magazine. Since people usually don’t want to cut up their magazines, I decided to make a brand new, printable version, using Flat Hitty as the model.
Click here to download the Hitty paper doll!
Print the two page .pdf file on 8.5″ x 11″ paper. You are welcome to print as many as you want and share the file with others, as long as you credit A Tale of Two Hittys as the source. I recommend printing this doll on cardstock or a good quality matte paper. On the left is a page printed on cardstock using a color laser copier. The one on the right was printed on Epson Premium Matte Presentation Paper using an inkjet printer. Be careful with the inkjet prints, because they may smear if they get wet. If you choose, you can laminate the doll and outfits (cut off tabs first) and then use double stick tape to attach the clothing.
ABOUT THE PAPER DOLL
This two page paper doll represents Hitty and her wardrobe in the Stockbridge Library. Hitty is dressed in her original white petticoat and pantalettes. I gave her a chemise with her name, like the one in the book. The three dresses and three bonnets are also part of Hitty’s original wardrobe. Keep reading to learn more about Hitty’s clothing in the Stockbridge Library.
Articles about Hitty’s Wardrobe
An article called, “Hitty Clothes,” written by Patricia Fifer with photographs by Bill Fifer, was one of my resources for the paper doll design. Patricia and her husband, Bill, took many measurements of Hitty’s clothing, which Patricia described in this article.
Another article about Hitty’s wardrobe was written by a conservator at the Textile Conservation Center (TCC) of the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. This article went into detail about the fabrics and construction of each piece of Hitty’s clothing.
In the summer of 1997, conservators cleaned and stabilized all of Hitty’s clothing. The total cost was $2,200, paid for by the Friends of Hitty Newsletter subscribers. The TCC reported on the condition of Hitty’s original wardrobe and its repair in the Spring and Summer 1998 issues of the Newsletter.
Daguerreotype Dress and Velvet Bonnet
The “Daguerreotype Dress” was Hitty’s original dress, hand-made many years ago by a previous, unknown owner. In the Hitty book, this dress was described as a brown sprig print on buff calico, made by Clarissa Pryce, a Quaker girl from Philadelphia. It’s also the dress in Hitty’s Daguerreotype Photo.
In a letter to The Three Owls, Dorothy Lathrop mentioned that she made Hitty a green velvet poke bonnet embellished with pink roses. It looks more golden than green to me, though the color may have faded. The bonnet coordinates nicely with the Daguerreotype Dress, as you can see in this 1930 photo of Hitty with Rachel Field.
Rachel traveled with Hitty in an airplane to California to accept the Newbery Medal in June 1930. I cropped and colorized the original black and white photo from the American Library Association (ALA) Archives. This is the best image of Hitty wearing the Daguerreotype Dress and the Velvet Bonnet that I am aware of.
From the American Library Association Archives: #ALA0004584.
Library Dress and Historic Bonnet
The Library Dress was probably made by Dorothy P. Lathrop as one of two replacement dresses for the Daguerreotype Dress. In “The Bookcase Apartments,” Rachel Field mentioned “the hundred-year-old print of the dress Miss Lathrop made for her,” and I suspect she was referring to the Library Dress.
From the collection of the Stockbridge Library, Museum & Archives.
Due to concerns about fading, the Library Dress is now kept in archival storage. In its place, the Stockbridge Library displays a replica of Hitty’s Library Dress, which I made in August 2023.
Like the Library Dress, the Historic Bonnet is no longer on display. It is made of multi-colored cotton with a surprisingly bold geometric print. The simple stick figures and and symmetrical elements appear to be inspired by designs of the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. The background is a rich burgundy color with accents of rust, off-white, tan, cyan and black. The back of the bonnet is round, with a narrow ruffle in back, which matches the trim along the front edge.
Courtesy of the Stockbridge Library, Museum & Archives.
Floral Dress and Sunbonnet
I have never seen a photo of Hitty wearing her cheerful, pink and white sunbonnet. In my opinion, it is the Sunbonnet that most truly captures the essence of Hitty. I can picture Hitty wearing it while her first owner, seven-year-old Phoebe Preble, picked wild raspberries in a cove along the shores of Maine.
The bonnet back is gathered at the top and also at the neckline. Its has a wide brim to shade the face. The stiffened brim has small pieces of cardboard inserted into channels, separated by stitching. When it was restored, curators replaced the original cardboard with an acid-free version.
In Dorothy’s letter to The Three Owls mentioned previously, she said that she made Hitty a new dress “out of somebody’s great aunt’s ‘all wool mousseline-de-laine’ with rosebuds on a dark plum color background, very flattering to her rather time-worn complexion.” Mousseline de laine is a French term for cloth made from cotton and wool. Since the Floral Dress is the only dress with a cotton warp and a wool weft (horizontal filler threads), this must be the one Dorothy was referring to.
Although Dorothy described the background as dark plum, it now appears brown. Unlike the other two dresses which have a plain weave, the Floral Dress has a twill weave. The print has red and blue-green flowers and leaves, interspersed with tan-colored branching stems.
I created a free pattern and tutorial to make Hitty’s Floral Dress and her Sunbonnet, in case anyone wants to make them for their Hitty dolls. I also developed Fabric Designs for Hitty, based on the clothing in the Stockbridge Library and the Hitty book.
I hope you enjoyed all the information about Hitty’s clothing. Have fun playing with the Hitty Paper Doll!
Sources:
Dunn, Wendi. “Hitty Paper Doll and Hitty’s Wardrobe,” Doll News, Fall 2024, pp. 110-117.
Field, Rachel. “How Hitty Happened,” The Horn Book Magazine, February 1930, pp. 22-26.
Field, Rachel. “The Bookcase Apartments,” Child Life, September 1935, p. 427.
Fifer, Patricia. “Hitty’s Clothes,” Friends of Hitty Newsletter, Spring 1997.
Heyerdahl, Virigina Ann. “Hitty Approaches The Millenium,” Doll Reader, November 1988, pp. 82-83.
Heyerdahl, Virigina Ann (ed.). Friends of Hitty Newsletter. Spring 1998, p. 6 and Summer 1998, pp. 4-7.
Moore, Anne Carroll. “In the American Tradition,” The Three Owls Third Book: Contemporary Criticism Of Children’s Books 1927–1930, p. 235-236.
Horning, Kathleen, T. “Hitty Preble, Public Person,” The Horn Book, May 31, 2022.
