Hitty Costumes

The Lotz Hitty Pages
~ part of The Lotz Doll Pages ~
Copyright © 1996+ Jean D. Lotz Last Updated: 06/17/06

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Hitty's Wardrobe and Accessories
from the 1929 Hitty book
and Poems Inspired by Hitty

The Doris Hupp Hitty with her fabulous wardrobe
use of photo permitted by Theriaults

This very fine Hitty was carved and dressed in 1933 by Doris Hupp. Doris was meticulous in detail, so her doll was carved from true mountain ash wood then Doris made every effort to provide her Hitty doll with each of the many Hitty dresses and accessories described or illustrated in the book including a sweet grass basket to hold the doll and her outfits.

The Hupp Hitty was offered by Theriaults with a 1930 edition Hitty book, some accessories, and a wonderful wardrobe including the "blue velvet pelisse embroidered with garlands no bigger than pinheads".

Unfortunately, some of Hitty's accessories and Doris' book have been misplaced over the years. Doris labeled each object and cataloged them with sequential numbers. The numbers are slightly out of sequence now. The shaker hat, the Victorian muff and hat are 3 obviously missing pieces.

Hitty's Many Gifts Described in the Book

From the Prebles:

buff calico dress strewn with small red flowers with a large out of scale button in the back
bloomers, petticoat, chemise with "HITTY" in red cross stitch
Mr. Preble made her a cradle which had a pillow and blanket

Chemise Cross Stitch Detail
from Doris Hupp's Hitty (c. 1933)
photo by Jean Lotz

From the shipmates on the Diana Kate:

hammock
chip basket
carved bone foot stool
sea chest painted blue with rope handles on each side and "H.P." in nails on the top
coral beads (a nose-ring)
captain's silk handkerchief

From the Natives & the Monkeys

grass skirt
tropical flowers

From Thankful's Mother

voluminous dress of cotton print with a large ruffle at the neck
Thankful's sampler
rose bud shawl made from a scrap from her sash

From Clarissa Pryce - early 1860's
Martha Cramer states: "Adelina Patti debuted in New York in 1859 and in London in 1861, so that gives the time frame for Clarissa's and Hitty's trip to the concert. Hitty said she went into camphor for about two years. That would have been right at the end of the Civil War (1865).

brown sprigs on buff calico weekday dress
pearl-grey silk meeting dress, with a fine white fichu crossed in front, lawn cap
one-room doll house
bench
school desk, tiny sheets of paper the size of postage stamps
quill pen made from the feather of a parrot - bright green with a touch of scarlet
braided rug
miniature china dog
poem

From Van Rensselaer family & Miss Milly Pinch (1867-68)

Charles Dickens travelled to the US several times: one was in 1843 after he finished writing "Barnaby Rudge". Jill Sanders states that he came to the US again in 1867-8. Dickens was very Victorian but Hitty should be dressed in late Victorian style for a Miss Pinch wardrobe.

pink dancing dress
watered-silk dress with draped skirt, fitted waist and innumerable bows
blue velvet pelisse embroidered with garlands no bigger than pinheads
little feathered hat and a muff of white eiderdown
A late Victorian wardrobe by Miss Milly Pinch

Miss Annette and Miss Hortense Larraby (1884-85)

Two Southern belles left spinsters (when their beaus were killed in the Civil War) dressed Hitty for the New Orleans Cotton Exposition using materials from their unused trouseau.

an ANTEBELLUM STYLE wedding gown (made out of an old family heirloom cotton handkerchief embroidered with a dove in a garland of rose buds).
Ruffled petticoats from fine muslin hemmed with microscopic feather stitching.
They placed a French knot of blue on the inner waist band of Hitty's old chemise.

From the Child who Stole Hitty out of the Cotton Exhibition:

sweet grass basket

Train Ticket Seller's wife - Early 1900's (after being lost for years in the post office lost letter file)

Emerald green silk pincushion doll dress

Miss Pamela Wellington - Early 1900's
She was a knowlegable doll collector who was given Hitty shortly after Hitty had been made into a pincushion. Pamela was the first to recognize Hitty as a valuable antique wooden doll and she immediately redressed Hitty into something more appropriate.

sprigged challis child's dress
little old yellow rocker

Miss Hunter & the old gentleman

pine bench
braided rug
a shell
miniature four-post bedstead

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Thief's Sweet Grass Basket
by Doris Hupp (c. 1933)
photo by Jean Lotz

Clarissa Pryce's Wooden Settle and Hitty
by Bill Fifer
photo by Bill Fifer

Lotz Hitty with Assorted Monkeys
(ty®, Steif®, and Boyds®)
photo by Jean Lotz

Ms Pinch's blue velvet pelisse embroidered
with garlands no bigger than pinheads
Doris Hupp's fabulous work (c.1933) with hand embroidery
on silk velvet edged with silk velvet bias binding
Photo by Jean Lotz

Miss Annette and Miss Hortense Larraby's
Bride's dress
by Jean Lotz
(on a Lotz Studio Basswood Hitty)

Clarissa Pryce's Pearl-grey
Silk Meeting Dress
by Diane Gee
(on a Williamsburg souvenir Hitty)

Clarissa Pryce's Pearl-grey
Silk Meeting Dress
by Ingeborg Tinius

Pink Dancing Dress
on a 1998 Williamsburg
Hitty Luncheon Souvenir
photo by Jean Lotz

Poetry for HITTY

The following poem, from an unknown source, is by Ruth B. Field (presumably no relation to Rachel Field) and is shared by Peggy Greenleaf of Franklin, North Carolina. If anyone knows anything more about the poem, the author or why it was written, please let us know. Contact Me and I will pass this information on to the FOH newsletter).

As you read the poem, you will note that it seems to have been written about Hitty. But was it? You decide!

The Wooden Doll
"A Poem about Hitty?" By Ruth B. Field
reprinted with permission from Friends of Hitty Newsletter - July 1995

Propped in her old-time cradle bed
The wooden doll stares, staid and bland,
Still proudly lifts her hand carved head
As she stiffly holds each wooden hand
Fashioned many long years ago
From mountain ash to please a child,
Dressed in her faded calico,
With memories she seems beguiled-
Memories of great logs ablaze,
The iron pots' great clouds of steam
The spinning wheel of bygone days
All intermingled in her dream-
But mostly they're of a little maid
In somber dress and pinafore

Who to her cheek tenderly laid
The wooden doll in days of yore-
The child painstakingly who took
Wee stitches on her patchwork quilt
By flickering light in the chimney nook
Crooning a quaint old sing song lilt-
When nighttime shadows became deep
And all the evening prayers were said-
Early to bed, and peaceful sleep,
The doll tucked into her cradle bed-
Gone now the cheery fire's blaze-
And the little child long years at rest
While the wooden doll from long lost days
Stares down the years that she loved best-
But her painted eyes can weep no tears-
As she dreams her dreams of the vanished years.

The Wooden Doll
"Another Poem about Hitty?" By Ruth B. Field
reprinted with permission from Friends of Hitty Newsletter - Summer 1998

If any one knows anything about Ruth B. Field or knows of a book of her poems, please let us know.

Hitty with sampler by Linda Camus

She sits demurely
   on the shelf
Beside the china cat
Old soup tureen,
   pale pewter ware
On a hand hooked
   flowered mat.
Ah - she could tell
   us charming tales
Of candle light and
   spinning wheel
And steaming wild
   game stew -
For she was carved
   from mountain ash
From a forest
   wild and deep;

She gazes from
   dim-painted eyes,
Must all her
   secrets keep.
But she remembers
   a trundle bed,
A fireplace's ruddy
   glow
And a quaint small
   girl who kissed her cheek
And hugged her
   long ago.

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Jean Lotz is an accomplished wood doll sculptor and author. Lotz dolls are found in museums and fine collections. Jean's articles have been published in doll and miniature collecting magazines and online. Jean has received accolades for her in-depth research of wooden dolls, and her sensitive biographies of fellow artists.

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