Doll:Ramayana & Sita of Traditional Thai Theater

Americans who travel internationally often purchase mementoes, or souvenirs, of the places they have visited and enjoyed. Many of them purchase National Costume dolls or souvenir dolls, and after much travel, they have assembled collections of dolls that reflect their itineraries. Some collectors, young girls among them, often collect dolls representing different countries even if they have not visited them. Aside from being a record of travels, international dolls also reflect an acceptance of and interest in peoples of other cultures and ethnicities. In a nation of immigrants, like the United States, the dolls also embrace a pride in one's ethnic background. Many of the costumes displayed on souvenir dolls have long ago disappeared from the individual countries, replaced by clothing made not in the native land but in Britain, the United States, or a country of Asia. These dolls then sometimes document the historical clothing and folk culture of a nation as well as native skills in the fabric arts like embroidery, leather tooling, lace making, fabric dying, and beading.