The Birches MCMXLVII
Exterior view
This house, called The Birches, was built in 1947 by the Keystone Manufacturing Company of Boston Massachusetts. Note the paint-stamped birch trees across the front of the dollhouse and the small sign on the lower left side of the house.
All Keystone houses were fully constructed at the factory, shipped set up, and to quote Keystone advertising, “ready to use Christmas morning…”
At 32 inches wide, 24 inches high, and 12 inches deep, not counting the extended front porch, it was one of the largest houses made by Keystone. The use of opening metal casement windows characterized all Keystone houses until 1949, when the windows were replaced with clear plastic sheets. The interior has six large rooms, decorated walls, and simulated wooden plank floors. Also featured are the fireplace in the living room and an upstairs closet. The circular staircase is made of glued-together blocks of wood.
Much of the furniture in The Birches was made by the Strombecker Manufacturing Company, which made dollhouse furniture from 1931 into the early 1960s.
Can you find?
-President Harry Truman
-48 star U.S. flag
-Cane- Miracle on 34th Street was nominated in 1947 for an Academy Award for Best Motion Picture
-Mousketeer ears
-1947 Caldecott winner- The Little Island by Leonard Weisgard
-1947 Newbery winner- Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
-A framed ad for Strombecker dollhouses
-Alice Liddell-
Alice Liddell, daughter of Dean Liddell of Christ Church, Oxford, was the real Alice. She and her sisters, Lorina and Edith, were inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, which he told the girls in 1862. Lewis Carroll taught mathematics at Christ Church.
-Tenniel’s Alice-
John Tenniel illustrated Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865
-Disney’s Alice in Wonderland- released in 1951
"and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, without pictures or
conversation?”
-Saddle shoes
-Bottles waiting for the milkman
FYI: In 1947, a U.S. postage stamp was 3 cents and a gallon of
gas was 15 cents.
All Keystone houses were fully constructed at the factory, shipped set up, and to quote Keystone advertising, “ready to use Christmas morning…”
At 32 inches wide, 24 inches high, and 12 inches deep, not counting the extended front porch, it was one of the largest houses made by Keystone. The use of opening metal casement windows characterized all Keystone houses until 1949, when the windows were replaced with clear plastic sheets. The interior has six large rooms, decorated walls, and simulated wooden plank floors. Also featured are the fireplace in the living room and an upstairs closet. The circular staircase is made of glued-together blocks of wood.
Much of the furniture in The Birches was made by the Strombecker Manufacturing Company, which made dollhouse furniture from 1931 into the early 1960s.
Can you find?
-President Harry Truman
-48 star U.S. flag
-Cane- Miracle on 34th Street was nominated in 1947 for an Academy Award for Best Motion Picture
-Mousketeer ears
-1947 Caldecott winner- The Little Island by Leonard Weisgard
-1947 Newbery winner- Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
-A framed ad for Strombecker dollhouses
-Alice Liddell-
Alice Liddell, daughter of Dean Liddell of Christ Church, Oxford, was the real Alice. She and her sisters, Lorina and Edith, were inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, which he told the girls in 1862. Lewis Carroll taught mathematics at Christ Church.
-Tenniel’s Alice-
John Tenniel illustrated Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865
-Disney’s Alice in Wonderland- released in 1951
"and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, without pictures or
conversation?”
-Saddle shoes
-Bottles waiting for the milkman
FYI: In 1947, a U.S. postage stamp was 3 cents and a gallon of
gas was 15 cents.