Recent YouTube algorithm recommendations have led me to watch clips from Pawn Stars episodes. The show features sellers who bring in items, such as Beatles memorabilia, a vintage plane, or tools used by a poker cheat in the 1920s, and provide personal and historical context to the objects. However, most of the time, we can only imagine what sights and sounds the item has been privy to over the decades.
As a college student, I had the opportunity to live in a historic campus dorm known as “The Dow House,” affectionately called “The Paul House” by students. During my junior year, my family was granted permission to repaint and redecorate some of the main rooms. While scraping off layers of wallpaper, we discovered a company name and date from 1920 penciled on the wall behind layer No. 3. If only those walls could talk!
The desire for intimate details about an old space is explored in Rachel Field’s Newberry Award-winning book, Hitty: Her First Hundred Years. The beloved children’s book follows a small wooden doll from her creation in early-1800s Maine up to her arrival at an antiques store in mid-1900s New York.
Field masterfully portrays the titular doll, Hitty, giving her a distinct voice that is amusing, disappointed, and indignant in turn. Hitty weathers many storms, both literal and figurative, and is held dear by quite a few owners, never passing too much judgment on any and painting the portrait and character of each in interesting terms.
The tale balances a doll-sized view of the world with major historical changes. During her first adventure on a whaling boat, we learn about the mighty trade and dangerous lifestyle surrounding the production of whale oil. Over the decades, she observes the effects of the Civil War, is held by Charles Dickens during one of his U.S. visits, has a poem written about her by John Greenleaf Whittier, hears Adelina Patti sing, has her daguerreotype taken, rides a train, and gets tossed out of an automobile.
The twists and turns in Hitty’s life are what fascinate readers. The winding ways through which she passes from one owner to the next are highly plausible, with toys constantly being lost amid cushions, hidden in attics, dropped into the ocean, or mailed to the wrong addresses. These unexpected events keep the book from becoming a series of vignettes and instead make it one cohesive whole.
Field includes famous appearances and events, but she keeps the focus on Hitty by giving us descriptions of her various outfits over the years and the quirky locations where only a small doll could fit and in which Hitty often finds herself.
Creative scenes, a witty protagonist, historical information, and much more await the curious reader upon opening this charming book. If you’re lucky enough to find an old copy, revel in the musty smell and think briefly about the countless other hands that have held it and the numbers of eyes that eagerly read those words. Settle back, and prepare to be swept away on a doll-sized tale spanning years and continents.
