William L. Bird

This appealing look at American history spotlights over 50 memorabilia from history, detailing each item's history and how they came to find a home at the Smithsonian. Included are such fascinating items as a piece of the original Plymouth Rock, a Washington Monument cornerstone, the table/chairs used by Grant and Lee at Appomattox, a framed lock of Andrew Jackson's hair and a JFK tie-clip. Bird's book is an educational - and fun - survey of small parts of American history.

Mike O. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

… (mere)

Sorry, but I was disappointed with this book & can't recommend it!!,

Dollhouse miniatures are a fascination in my household. I had to say that outright in order for my review to be evenly weighed. I ordered this book with great anticipation because I had heard good things about it, "great example of dollhouse miniatures," "a must read". The book is okay. It is nothing fancy. There are lots of other books on dollhouse miniatures that delve into the subject more thoroughly and make the subject worth reading about. Though, the dollhouse of the title is a nice house, it is nothing special to warrant such a book. There are, even back then when Bradford made her donation, other nicer, better dollhouses. At just 127 pages, including references, credits and acknowledgments, this book leaves a great deal to be desired. It is nowhere worth the cover price of $24.95, nor the much cheaper Amazon price of $14 I paid.

Faith Bradford is purported to have been a librarian that donated her unique dollhouse of 23 rooms, that she designed and decorated, to the Smithsonian Museum. In fact, she was recently retired from the Library of Congress, where in fact, she was more of an archivist than a librarian, and who no doubt had contacts to get her dollhouse into the Smithsonian, so her effort was really no big achievement.

The dollhouse she donated, never really made it to the museum, as it was no longer presentable, but the miniatures inside did, into a replica that the Museum paid for and had made for her in order to accept her dollhouse donation.

This book had promise, especially since it was written by the Smithsonian Curator, but it lost a great deal in execution. There are color photos along with black and white. There should have been a large overleaf, perhaps, one oversized color page of the whole house in order for the reader to delve into it. There is not. There is just one color photo of 8x10, which ones needs a magnifying glass to view the innards of the house. There is mention of another more modern house that Bradford also donated, but no digging into either. There is also a bit of history about the Smithsonian that wastes space.
Overall, this was a disappointing purchase and unless you are a serious miniaturist, whom enjoys keeping varied books on the subject on your book shelf, I can not recommend this one. See if you can locate it in your library instead and spend your money on a better book.… (mere)