I Love It So So Much When The Sparks Fandom Refers To Ron Dressed Up As A Girl As "heidi" Like Yeah.

From the book - Henry Darger’s Room 851 Webster Photos by Nathan Lerner & David Berglund

I'm honestly not entirely certain as there were definitely dolls available in 1918 that would seem to fit Ruth's criteria.

(source: Sears catalog, Fall/Winter 1918)

My best guess is that she was either referring to quality, and/or she wanted a doll with a bisque porcelain head and limbs - as that would have been the predominant style when her mother was a child.

By the late teens most doll heads/limbs were made of composition - a material consisting mainly of sawdust and glue. Composition dolls were marketed as "almost unbreakable" (as you can see above) which, considering how many late 19th/early 20th century letters to Santa involve stories of broken porcelain dolls, was definitely a needed innovation.

The most prized dolls at the time were made in Germany and France - which obviously meant that WWI severely interrupted the supply chain.

The fact that so many little girls coveted German-made dolls took a rather hilarious turn once the US and Germany were at war. I've found many, many dear Santa letters from children vehemently declaring that they would rather not have a doll at all than one made in Germany. Some went as far as to purposely break their German dolls in tiny fits of patriotism - such as Nancy from last year who had to request a new doll from Santa after she took her German-made doll and "chop it head off".

(source: Grand magasins du Louvre catalog, Christmas 1918.)

If you compare the Sears catalog dolls to dolls from a French catalog from the same period, you can definitely see the difference in quality - as well as the fact they more closely resemble dolls from when Ruth's mother was growing up.

Wartime Sketchbook (1945) by John Charles Goodchild (1898–1980)

i like to imagine that Ron sits in front of an industrial sized fan every morning as part of his hair routine :) <3

like so:

Ok i dont think happy mask salesman is an evil demon freak like at all but i dont think hes some wild fucking lastof his kind god diety whatever people are trying to frame him as i literally think hes just some strange off putting guy bro. Like the most he probably is magic wise is a regular wizard but i dont think hes anything special like at all i think hes just some guy who collects and sells interesting masks sorry to bore you all

I may look normal, but I had a Clockwork Orange phase when I was 14.

Keying Up, The Court Jester (1875) by William Merritt Chase