The Charlotte Raftery Collection.

The Charlotte Raftery Collection, donated to the Museum of Childhood, Ireland, in March 2020, comprises items of children’s clothing, dolls, doll house furniture, miniatures, and childhood ephemera.

Research on Charlotte and on her collection is ongoing, with public displays of items from the collection throughout 2022 planned.

For a history of childhood clothing in Ireland please see:

Charlotte Raftery, ‘The dolls and toys of Irelands past,’ Published in Doll Reader (May, 1988) 

Charlotte Lang was born on April 15th, 1913 in 

Saarbrücken, Saarland, Deutschland (Germany)

Charlotte married Joseph Raftery ( later Director of the National Museum of Ireland) in 1939, in Germany. The couple were able to leave Germany for Ireland just before the outbreak of World War II. They had two sons.

Charlotte passed away on July 13th 2007 in Ireland. 

Please bear with us as we continue to upload information and photographs of items from this collection.

Donated to the Museum of Childhood Ireland 2020