My Museum
When my husband Roger and I moved to Fallbrook in 2000 we needed to find a house with a dollroom. We did just that and Roger built all the “houses” in the museum per my specifications. My inspiration for the design of the dollroom was Las Vegas, Nevada. The cathedral ceiling is airbrushed with blue sky and white clouds just like Caesar’s Forum. The ideas for the buildings in the museum came mostly from the shops at the Venetian Hotel except that I designed the museum buildings to specifically to show the wardrobe and costumes of my Terri Lee dolls.
| Gingerbread House or Sweet Shoppe In the center, the Sweet Shoppe displays the Terri Lee Heartfund outfits. They date from 1951 to 1958 and some of the profits from the outfits were donated to the American Heart Association. The cabinet on the left displays Easter outfits and Sprint suit costumes along with a large collection of vintage paper Mache rabbits and tin Easter toys. The cabinet on the right is my multicultural display and it shows off Calypso Costumes, Dutch and Hula Costumes and Irish Colleens and Scottish Lassies. |
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French Cafe This is my newest and last building. I am out of space in my museum. Included in this building are displays of dolls from the original “Little Mothers.” Also there are Garden Party costumes, Little Ladies, Special Hair do’s, and a Jewel Tea and Terri Lee display. A good friend of mine sewed the awning for the roof of this building. Although there are no French Terri Lees many of the dolls in the café are eating or having a tea party. |
| Doll Room On the far left is Santa’s Village, a “brick” building with snow on the roof. Inside Santa’s village are the wonderful coats and fur costumes that belong to my wonderful Terri Lee dolls. Here too, you will find ballerinas, ice skaters, roller skaters, engineers, and many wool skirts costumes. Miniature Christmas trees are decorated with vintage ornaments from the 1930’s to 1960’s. |
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Sandy Gulch Hotel The owner of Terri Lee Sales Corporation, Violet Gradwohl, was very interested in horses and western costumes and so she and her daughter Terri Lee designed many leather cowboy and cowgirl outfits. The Sandy Gulch Hotel and Saloon houses my Gene Autry dolls and my Gene Autry collection along with many Terri Lee and Jerri Lee western costumes. There are Frontier outfits, many leather outfits including leopard fur chaps for Jerri Lee. Terri has several Farmerette outfits. More recently my Girl Scout, Bluebird and Campfire doll collections have joined the western boys and girls. |
| Grandma's Memorial Building This building is dedicated to my mother, Betty Elizabeth Whisler Hoover Swaim who purchased my first Terri Lee and Jerri Lee dolls and later helped me purchase my collection. She passed away in 1993 but she remains close to me through my doll collection. Housed in this building are the large accessories such as the Ferris Wheel, clothes racks, large and small wardrobes and beds. My Bozo collection and my Flagg dolls also live in this building. Terri Lee and Jerri Lee masquerades along with a large collection of vintage paper mache and hard plastic Halloween toys and decorations are also in display in this building. |
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 Nuns This is one building that I brought with me from Orange county. I believe it looks like a church window and so it displays my Terri Lee nuns and confirmation girls. In addition to the Terri Lee dolls I have begun a collection of other religious dolls that include Madame Alexanders and others. David the little Rabbi, Miss Israel, Ginny Nun, and many others are on display here. |
 School House How could a teacher not have a school house? Mine is a Little Red School House complete with a working brass bell in a bell tower. On display in the school house are majorette and drum major Terri Lee dolls, cheerleaders, Family Costumes, and matching Terri Lee and Jerri Lee outfits. Also included in this building are many mementos given to me by my students when I retired from teaching in 1999. |
If you have questions, please email me.