Name: Alma in Red
Made by and When: Nancy Latham, 1989
Material: Brown cloth, stockinette-covered sculpted face, and pellets in the cloth torso
Marks: On the Back: #0146 (handwritten); (stamped on the lower back) Wistful / Children; (hang tag, inside left) Alma in Red / #06 / DOTY AWARD NOMINEE; (hang tag, inside right) Wistful / Children / 1989; (hang tag, back) 0146
Height: 23 inches (the doll’s doll is 9 inches.)
Hair, Eyes, Mouth: The dark brown wig was formerly styled in pigtails and plaits, now restyled in three pigtails with side-twisted bangs. Each pigtail and the end of the twisted bangs are adorned with a cranberry ribbon. The eyes are painted. The closed mouth is unpainted.
Clothes: Dressed in a muslin two-piece undergarment of top and pants that button together and a cranberry and off-white tiny division-sign-printed dress with attached off-white sleeves and an off-white ribbon accent at the collar. Off-white cotton socks and burgundy Winnie the Pooh faux leather T-strap shoes complete the outfit. Sewn to Alma’s right hand is a brown cloth doll with painted features, black yarn pigtails that frame the sides and top of the head that wears only an off-white lace collar.
Other: Born in Havana, Cuba in 1946, Nancy Latham came to the US in 1962. She began making dolls in 1989. Alma in Red is from Latham’s original 1989 Wistful Children series. According to the hang tag, Alma in Red is from a limited edition of 10 and is doll #6 in the edition. The appearance of Latham’s Wistful Children dolls evolved throughout the years becoming more wistful and fantasy-like in later years.
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