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History Room Highlight: June
When the American Girl Doll Club met in May they had a special surprise waiting for them. Gia Charles—who runs the club—came up to this History Room and asked if there were any materials we had that would feel connected to Samantha, the belle of the ball for May’s club meeting.
Samantha Parkington is an Edwardian era orphan who lives with her wealthy adoptive family in New York City in 1904. While the History Room collections don’t contain anything specific to New York, we did have a few pieces that were able to capture the glamour of the period.
Elmhurst (now the Hyde School) was completed shortly before the outbreak of the First World War and truly captures the sumptuous luxury of that bygone era. Club attendees could easily imagine Samantha striding through the colonnaded hallways or sipping lemonade on the terrace. They were also delighted to learn about Emma Eames, a Hong Kong-born but Bath-raised girl who went on to be one of the leading operatic sopranos of the late 19th century. The whole event served as an excellent pilot program for leveraging the History Room’s fascinating collections to enhance other events and inspire the next generation of historians!
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