"Unbreakable" Dolls from the 1917 John M Smyth Catalog

  These catalog pages are from 1917!  The dolls just a little more than a decade prior to this were mostly made of some kind of porcelain or glass.  They started making dolls with paper mache, but those just weren't that durable.  Once the process of composition came along in the early 1900's, most dolls were made from that material.  It's basically sawdust mixed with glue, put into a mold, and then covered with a thick paint or resin.  Because prior dolls were predominantly porcelain or paper mache and all had problems with breakage, these new composition dolls were called "UNBREAKABLE".  They could, of course, break; but they were much more durable and many still look nice today!