The Illinois State Museum has been eager to share the fascinating dolls from the recent generous gift with the public. On March 28, 1999, a major exhibition of over 600 of these dolls opened at the State Museum in Springfield. It will travel to various State Museum galleries throughout Illinois over the course of the next year. In addition, a 90-page color catalog of the exhibition has been published by the Illinois State Museum.

This collection has tremendous potential as a teaching collection on many subjects. The challenge for the Curator of Decorative Arts was to create an interpretive framework that would make it easier for the public to explore the world revealed by dolls. She chose Dolls in the Looking Glass as the title of the exhibit and catalogue because it illustrates how dolls are our attempts to create human figures in miniature that mirror our lives. Dolls not only mirror the human form but also mirror the human experience. Individual dolls reflect small details that viewed collectively reveal larger stories about childhood, industrialization, artistry and collecting.

The exhibition has been organized into the three parts: Reflection of Childhood, Reflections of Industry and Artistry, and Reflections of Collecting. The presentation fosters the Museum's mission to educate the public about the cultural and artistic values of objects. It also discusses the importance of collecting, both publicly and privately, as a way to preserve our heritage.

Bringing the doll collection to the public has involved a large number of people—a team of preparators, volunteers, interns, and a professional conservator, as well as the Decorative Arts curator and registrar. An even larger team including exhibitions, publications, and education professionals made possible the exhibition, catalog, and public programs. As with most projects at the Museum, teamwork was essential.