By Kayla D’Amato
When considering the holiday souvenir dolls collected for many years by Ellen Worrall (now in the ownership of MoCI) See:
questions begin to appear such as are they authentic? Do they represent stereotypes? Or are they accurate depictions of the imagery of the country in which they came from? To answer such questions, the examination of what souvenirs are and what they represent is important, as they can take on either a national identity or perhaps a smaller indigenous community within the confines of the larger country.[i] Take for example, the Carlson doll titled ‘Sioux Indian War Dancer’ as pictured below that is in Worrall’s collection. The American company began production in 1946 and focused its efforts on a wide range of products, most significantly dolls.[ii]
They were known for their Native American product lines, which brings in the idea of deconstructing ‘others’ known as indigenous or seen to be separate from a country’s national identity.[iii] The issue then becomes, if such companies are manufacturing on a massive scale, at what point does it become stereotypical or potentially negative of the people which the dolls represent? Although, the question is important some studies have indicated that stereotypes, accurate cultural representation, and significance are not a main factor when purchasing but instead of the memories of traveling which the buyers may not be able to do often.[iv]

However, the examination of the ‘Sioux Indian War Dancer’ illustrates on a broader scale the effect of tourism on smaller populations, villages, or cultural/ethnic groups. As in a lot of cases during the twentieth century many regional, cultural, religious, or ethnic groups did not maintain a sense of authorship over their mass-produced identification. Though, in recent years beginning in the twenty-first century, Roseman & Fife, argue that while such souvenirs can be less meaningful to the population it defines, there is an inherent authorship the locals have over them and in a sense are able to create and enhance a political message to a broader range of people.[v] Such authorship or say in the creations of souvenirs is a more modern conception and ability, than what some of the Worrall collection of holiday souvenir dolls were given at the time in which they were created. Even if times, places, or markets are changing one cannot deny the reality in which some, if not a majority, of the tourist commodities were created and used during the twentieth century, thus highlighting the need for more ‘authentic’ and ‘appropriate’ representative items that work together with the local communities.[vi]
Further Reading
Carlson Souvenir Dolls. Accessed March 18, 2023. http://archive.org/details/carlsondolls.
Hashimoto, Atsuko, and David J. Telfer. “Geographical Representations Embedded within Souvenirs in Niagara: The Case of Geographically Displaced Authenticity.” Tourism Geographies 9, no. 2 (May 2007): 191–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616680701278547.
Keskitalo, E. Carina H., Hannelene Schilar, Susanna Heldt Cassel, and Albina Pashkevich. “Deconstructing the Indigenous in Tourism. The Production of Indigeneity in Tourism-Oriented Labelling and Handicraft/Souvenir Development in Northern Europe.” Current Issues in Tourism 24, no. 1 (January 2, 2021): 16–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1696285.
Masset, Julie, and Alain Decrop. “Meanings of Tourist Souvenirs: From the Holiday Experience to Everyday Life.” Journal of Travel Research 60, no. 4 (April 1, 2021): 718–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520915284.
Pietikäinen, Sari, and Helen Kelly-Holmes. “The Local Political Economy of Languages in a Sámi Tourism Destination: Authenticity and Mobility in the Labelling of Souvenirs1.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 15, no. 3 (2011): 323–46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2011.00489.x.
Roseman, Sharon R, and Wayne Fife. “Souvenirs and Cultural Politics in Santiago de Compostela.” International Journal of Iberian Studies 21, no. 2 (November 21, 2008): 109–30. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijis.21.2.109_1.
[i] Keskitalo et al., “Deconstructing the Indigenous in Tourism. The Production of Indigeneity in Tourism-Oriented Labelling and Handicraft/Souvenir Development in Northern Europe.”
[ii] Carlson Souvenir Dolls, accessed March 18, 2023, http://archive.org/details/carlsondolls.
[iii] Keskitalo et al., “Deconstructing the Indigenous in Tourism. The Production of Indigeneity in Tourism-Oriented Labelling and Handicraft/Souvenir Development in Northern Europe.”
[iv] Julie Masset and Alain Decrop, “Meanings of Tourist Souvenirs: From the Holiday Experience to Everyday Life,” Journal of Travel Research 60, no. 4 (April 1, 2021): 718–34, https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520915284. & Atsuko Hashimoto and David J. Telfer, “Geographical Representations Embedded within Souvenirs in Niagara: The Case of Geographically Displaced Authenticity,” Tourism Geographies 9, no. 2 (May 2007): 191–217, https://doi.org/10.1080/14616680701278547.
[v] Sharon R Roseman and Wayne Fife, “Souvenirs and Cultural Politics in Santiago de Compostela,” International Journal of Iberian Studies 21, no. 2 (November 21, 2008): 109–30, https://doi.org/10.1386/ijis.21.2.109_1.
[vi] Sari Pietikäinen and Helen Kelly-Holmes, “The Local Political Economy of Languages in a Sámi Tourism Destination: Authenticity and Mobility in the Labelling of Souvenirs1,” Journal of Sociolinguistics 15, no. 3 (2011): 323–46, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2011.00489.x.
Kayla D’Amato worked as an intern on the Ellen Worrall Collection as part of her studies for an MA in Public History in Queen’s University Belfast.