Native Doll

Lifetime Honors. 1996. Retrieved Nov. 30, 2007 from http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=1996_11

This website has much information on Dolly Spencer. It's like a biography of her life. It starts out from where she was born, how she was raised, to how she got to where she is now. She learned how to sew at the age of 10 and was taught very well. Even though she didn't finish school, she became a very crafty person. Using scraps from other projects, she began making dolls for friends and then for herself. When making the dolls, she wants memories of how she grew up, using traditional clothing and showing the people how it was back then. She is very skilled at what she does and I'm glad to see so much work put in to so little but meaningful things.

Lee, M. C. (2006) Not Just a Pretty Face: Dolls and Human Figurines in Alaska Native Cultures. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press

Not Just a Pretty face is in full-color and it is a second-edition book. It has the role of dolls and the doll making in Alaska Native Cultures. The dolls mentioned are either made out of ivory carvings or hand made. In this book, the photographs are in color and look beautiful. The diversity of the doll making tradition whether Eskimo, Athabaskan, or Northwest Coast style, the dolls are amazing!

Jones, S. W. (1982) Eskimo Dolls. Anchorage: Alaska State Council on the Arts.

This book has some other dolls made by Eskimos with different styles of making them and different materials. All these dolls are very unique and handmade. The author has put some information on the doll makers and has a brief explanation of what materials have been used. It also has another doll that Dolly Spencer had made and the materials she has used. Today, dolls can be made for decoration, ceremonial objects, toys, or amulets. Most researchers use the term figurines when they refer to these creations.

There is also another book, but was published in 1999 with similar and updated information on the dolls. Dolls that keep being made end up in that book, depending on the author or editor. There is a lot to see and more to read in these books.

Arctic Studies. 2001. Retrieved Nov. 24, 2007 from http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=96

This site has an elders discussion about the gut parka, the history of the gut parka, and visitor comments. The gut parka has been very useful for hunters and they are so light weight and waterproof. They have been used for wet weather and for hunters traveling through water. It also has the culture, region and two pictures of what a gut parka looks like. The information shown on this page also refers to the gut parka on the doll.

Here are two dolls that Dolly Spencer has made. The dolls are one of a kind and she uses traditional clothing like she has used as a child. With these dolls, she's used twisted and untwisted caribou sinew, which is from the tendon of the caribou. This picture was from a website also.
Modern Wood Dolls. 1996. Retrieved Nov. 30, 2007 from
http://www.lotzdollpages.com/ldartps.html