Made to Play House: Dolls and the Commercialization of American Girlhood, 1830-1930

Made to Play House: Dolls and the Commercialization of American Girlhood, 1830-1930 by Formanek-Brunell, Miriam. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780801860621.

In Made to Play House, Miriam Formanek-Brunell traces the history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century dolls and explores the origins of the American toy industrys remarkably successful efforts to promote self fulfillment through maternity and materialism. She tells the fascinating story of how inventors, producers, entrepreneurs―many of whom were women―and little girls themselves created dolls which expressed various notions of female identity.