The Recorder’s recent coverage of the death of widely acclaimed fashion designer Bob Mackie (and likewise, the front-page coverage of Mackie’s death in The New York Times) highlighted Mackie’s contribution to the world of Barbie dolls. The Barbie doll is a significant part of our culture and recent history.
It just so happens that a special exhibit of The Nancy Damour Collection of 68 Barbie dolls now on display in the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association’s Memorial Hall Museum in Old Deerfield includes 30 Bob Mackie-designed dolls, including the famous “Went with the Wind!” doll based on a dress in a “The Carol Burnett Show” skit that was inspired by the movie “Gone with the Wind.” The original dress is now in the Smithsonian Institution collections. The exhibit also includes four Cher dolls designed by Mackie.
The exhibit in Deerfield is open Tuesdays through Sundays now through Oct. 31, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It will also be available during the Old Deerfield Fall Arts and Crafts Festival on Memorial Hall Museum’s lawn on Sept. 19 and 20.
I am so happy to live where our local newspaper and our local history museums are as current and culturally attuned as The New York Times and the Smithsonian!
Tim Neumann
Deerfield