An Interview With Myla Perkins Part 3 of 3

In a photograph courtesy of Michigan State University Museum, Myla Perkins and her sister, standing on the far right, are seen with the other members of The Quilting Six.

Continued from Part 2

For Myla, collecting slowed down due to an issue many veteran collectors face, the lack of display space. Her interest in dolls was also fading. She liked the dolls she had, but she did not want to add any more. By 1992, God had blessed her with two more living dolls—her first two granddaughters. Five more granddaughters and a grandson followed. She also now has two great-granddaughters. As a result, Myla became increasingly focused on her family. “I have a second hobby. I quilt, and quilting takes up as much time as doll collecting,” Myla shared.

While quilting also requires time, it became more gratifying than doll collecting. It allows Myla to use the sewing skills she learned as a child and honed over the years. Two years before her oldest child went to college, Myla’s friends told her about care packages they sent to their college children. Myla admitted, "I have done a lot of things, but I never really loved cooking. I decided I would not cook food, pack it up and mail it because it would not be good when it left Detroit, and it would not be good when it got to where it was going." She decided to make a quilt so when her daughter’s roommate received care packages, “she could wrap herself in a quilt I made and cry because she did not get a care package.” Her then high school daughter encouraged Myla to start working on the quilt so it would be ready before she went to college. She realized she really liked quilting and has continued to quilt since the mid-1970s. A quilt of doll dresses made approximately 20 years ago is her only doll-related quilt.

"Underground Railroad" by Myla Perkins

Myla and a group of sorority sisters and friends formed The Quilting Six. The six members are featured in a photograph on the Quilt Index website, “an open access, digital repository of thousands of images, stories and information about quilts and their makers” (Overview). Photographs and details of two quilts Myla made, “Underground Railroad” from 1984 and “Bridal Wreath” from 1985 are included in her Quilt Index profile.

As Myla’s focus shifted away from collecting, she focused on selling the dolls.  Her Leo Moss dolls were the last dolls she parted with and doing so was not difficult at all for her. The dolls had been on display at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit before she gave her entire doll collection to her oldest daughter to sell. At that point, Myla had a decision to make regarding the dolls—either she would give the dolls to a museum or she would allow her daughter to sell them. Her final decision was based on knowing too many people who gave things to museums and the museums kept them in storage in basements. Either rodents got them, bugs got them, or humidity destroyed them. Myla shared that she curated a doll collection for a museum that kept the collection in their basement and never did display it. She did not want any of this to happen to her dolls. Furthermore, she did not want the collection improperly disposed of as has happened to many other collectors’ dolls. She wanted people to enjoy them.

Myla's impressive collection was displayed in her home in special cabinets.

 

Myla added, “When something is past its time, I am willing to let it go and move on. A lot of people were surprised that I even sold them. My husband and I had lived in our home for 41 years where we raised our four children. That’s where I collected all my dolls. My husband had special cabinets built for them. When I moved from that house 13 years ago, selling the house to my son, I left the dolls there. I took what I wanted. I didn’t have room for them. My son was alright [about the dolls being there] since he grew up with them.” Eventually, Myla decided to move the dolls all out, sell them, and move on.

After receiving the Moss dolls back from the Wright Museum and several other antique Black dolls, Myla gave her daughter a list of national auction houses to contact. Her daughter chose Theriault’s. Theriault’s took all the Moss dolls, a total of 13, and some of the other antique dolls to auction. On March 17, 2018, Myla’s Moss dolls and other antique dolls were auctioned by Theriault’s in the quite successful “Tears for Mina” auction.

A doll that represents King Tut by Averill Manufacturing Co. is seen in a photograph from Black Dolls Book II.

One doll that Myla regrets giving her daughter to sell is the King Tut (U-Shab-Ti” Tutankhamen) doll by Averill Manufacturing Co. made in 1923. “It was totally original and was made the year they discovered his tomb,” Myla shared. Tutankhamen, more commonly referred to as King Tut or Boy King, was the King of ancient Egypt from about 1347 to 1339 B.C. He was only eight or nine years old when he became king.

In answering interview questions about the late doll artist, I. Roberta Bell, who was the first African American member of the National Institute of Doll Artists, Myla described her as a lovely person. She owned several of Ms. Bell’s dolls made in the likeness of historical African Americans. “Bell’s work and Hoyte’s museum enriched the doll community in different ways,” Myla related. We discussed Barbara Whiteman’s annual Memorial Day weekend Philadelphia Doll Shows that were held from the late 1980s until 2012. Myla recalled how grand the early shows were with workshops, lectures, Black doll artists, and many activities for collectors to enjoy.

Myla’s advice to novice collectors is to take care of the dolls they collect, and "don’t try to redo them." She feels that changing the dolls in any way diminishes their value. “You can refurbish antique cars and they maintain their value, but I don’t think you should do that to dolls.” She also encourages collectors to share their dolls with museums and with others in the community through displays and exhibitions.

Myla Perkins today

Myla ended the interview by affirming, “I don’t mind you sharing my age. I’m 83 and feel blessed to still be here and healthy.”

The doll community is also blessed because Myla Perkins shared her dolls and doll research in the form of booklets, books, exhibitions, and community and media appearances.  She founded Detroit’s first Black-doll club, became Detroit’s first UFDC Black member, and introduced Leo Moss dolls to the doll community with the doll, Mina. For me, her first book opened up the world of Black-doll collecting. Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide 1820-1991 was my collector's bible for at least a decade. I still reference it frequently. Before reading Myla’s first book, I had no idea as many delightful Black dolls existed during my childhood. Myla’s books also taught me the importance of doll research, documenting a collection, and the importance of sharing my research with the global doll community.

Myla Perkins, on behalf of the doll community, thank you!

References

“About UFDC.” UFDC, United Federation of Doll Clubs, Inc., 

            www.ufdc.org/about-ufdc. Accessed 12 July 2022.

“History of the Crisis.” A Record of the Darker Races, NAACP.org, 

            naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/history-crisis. 

            Accessed 19 July 2024. “Overview.” 

“Myla Perkins Quilt Maker.” Quilt Index, Quilt Index, 

            quiltindex.org/view/?type=artists&kid=12-51-51. Accessed 15 July 2022.

“Overview.” Quilt Index, Quilt Index, quiltindex.org/about/welcome. 

            Accessed 15 July 2022.

Perkins, Myla. Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide 1820 to 1991. Paducah, Kentucky, Collector Books a division of Schroeder Publishing Co., Inc., 1991.

Perkins, Myla. Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide Book II. Paducah, Kentucky, Collector Books a division of Schroeder Publishing Co., Inc., 1993.

Video

Tears for Mina (March 8, 2018, a preview of Leo Moss dolls from Myla Perkins' collection auctioned by Theriault's on March 17-18, 2018)