❋

The Black Doll Project

What Is The Black Doll Project?

The Black Doll Project is a national archiving initiative dedicated to preserving dolls, doll collections, and related materials that reflect the lives, imaginations, and cultural worlds inspired by Black dolls.

What We’re Looking For

We are currently accepting donations and acquisitions of:

  • Black dolls (all eras, brands, and conditions)

  • Vintage dolls and collections

  • Barbie, Bratz, American Girl, and other lines featuring Black dolls

  • Handmade or culturally specific dolls

  • Doll clothing, accessories, and play sets

  • Doll packaging, books, and promotional materials

🗂️ How We Preserve

All items contributed to The Black Doll Project are:

  • Physically preserved as part of The Black Girlhood Archive’s growing collection

  • Digitally archived, including high-quality images and catalog records

  • Used for research, exhibitions, and educational programming centered on Black girlhood

This is a living archive. Materials may contribute to:

  • Public exhibitions

  • Scholarly and community-based research

  • Publications and digital storytelling projects

We are currently accepting donations and acquisitions of:

  • Black dolls (all eras, brands, and conditions)

  • Vintage dolls and collections

  • Barbie, Bratz, American Girl, and other lines featuring Black dolls

  • Handmade or culturally specific dolls

  • Doll clothing, accessories, and play sets

  • Doll packaging, books, and promotional materials

💌 Contributing Your Dolls

We welcome individuals who are looking to place their dolls in a meaningful, long-term home.

We prioritize donations as a way to collectively build and sustain this archive.

Due to limited funding, we are not currently able to support large-scale purchasing, but we are actively working toward future acquisition funds and may consider paid acquisitions at a later time for select items.

In addition to the dolls, we invite contributors to share:

  • Where and when the dolls were acquired

  • Who they belonged to

  • Personal memories or stories

  • Cultural or regional context

This information is preserved alongside the items whenever possible.

📦 What Happens Next

  • Submissions are reviewed by our team

  • We may follow up for additional details

  • Selected items are accepted as donations

  • Items are cataloged with collector information and preserved within the archive

DONATE TODAY

Questions? Email archive@blackgirlsknowbest.org