Dolls in the Looking Glass: The Joy E. Orozco Collection
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Berechtesgaden, Grödner Tal, Oberammgergau--Peg-wooden Dolls

In several German-speaking areas of central Europe, the making of wooden dolls with peg jointing became an important part of the local economy. Most of these dolls were made in the mountainous area surrounding St. Ulrich, which was part of Austria until World War II, and is now part of Italy. In this area, called the Grödner Tal (Valley), wooden dolls and doll heads were being carved as early as the 1700s. By 1800, about 300 wood carvers in the Grödner Tal were making dolls, and sales agents took their work all over the world. The farm families living in the mountains spent their winters making dolls in a wide range of sizes from local wood, mostly pine. Most of the attention was put into the head, which required the most skill in carving and painting. The peg-jointed wooden bodies allowed for movement of the arms and legs. Peg-wooden dolls were also made in the forests of Thuringia (a northern area of Germany) and in the Berchtesgaden and Oberammergau Tyrolean area. Craftspeople making these dolls were also working in England, America, and China, but the quantities produced could not match those of the Grödner Tal. The Verlagers in Grödner Tal were important middlemen who organized production, purchased dolls from the carvers, stored them, and marketed the dolls for export. By 1873 almost the entire population of the Grödner Tal (3,500) were involved in the doll business, and one Verlager had thirty large showrooms containing millions of dolls.


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