Club members help revamp Wilder Museum’s doll collection in Strawberry Point

The Wilder Museum in downtown Strawberry Point, which was renovated in 2014, has gotten another makeover.

The Prairie Rapids Doll Club of Iowa - whose members hail from Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Marion, Reinbeck, Fayette, Oelwein and Plainfield - recently helped restore the museum's collection of more than 700 dolls.

'They have been an absolute joy to be around, to spend time with, to work with,” said Diane Formo, the museum's director. 'They are some of the nicest, most thoughtful, considerate, generous people I have ever met.”

In all, 16 club members spent more than 2,000 hours volunteering at the museum, curating and restoring the dolls, and putting them into completely new displays.

Steven Wikert of Cedar Falls, who along with his wife, Mary, founded the Prairie Rapids Doll Club in 1984, said when they came for a tour of the museum in 2015, the dolls were displayed rather haphazardly.

'They were not arranged well ... some were put together because of the colors they were wearing. There might have been one from 1930 sitting with one from 1820. It was a hodgepodge of things,” Wikert said.

Formo, a Dubuque native who came to the museum more than three years ago after a career in human resources, admitted she is not a doll expert, and was completely open to feedback.

'If you have someone who knows telling you something, you need to listen,” she said.

When the doll club members offered their services to identify, inventory and redo the displays, Formo said she was blown away.

'I couldn't believe what I was hearing because we have a lot of dolls and it was such a daunting task that I couldn't believe they would help us with that,” she said. 'If you have pros offering to help you, it would be crazy to turn them down.”

Wikert agreed the task was formidable

'We had 15 (people) that first day and there were almost 800 to 900 items on the tables, including the objects displayed with the dolls. We were like ‘oh my God what have we done. We opened a huge can of worms here.'”

But club members plugged away at the project. More than 50 books were brought in to help identify dolls, some of which were manufactured as early as the mid-18th century. The dolls were cleaned and paired with vintage photographs and other signage Wikert either had on hand or had printed.

This wasn't the first time the Prairie Rapids Doll Club has pitched in to preserve a collection. Members previously worked with the dolls at the Grout Museum in Waterloo.

'We've had other exhibits here and there. We're very active in doing that sort of thing,” Wikert said.

Formo said doll lovers now will find 99 percent of the museum's collection on display in the front room of the museum.

'I had no idea it could be so over the top beautiful,” she said.

The Wilder Museum isn't just about dolls. The museum also has items as varied as Victorian furniture and porcelain clocks.

Formo said she intends to keep mixing things up at the museum, so visitors will have a reason to return.

'When you walk in here, there's something about this place. It just it grabs your heart and you love it,” Formo said.

If you go

Mary Wikert will be speaking about the doll collection during a special opening event at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Wilder Museum, 123 W Mission St, Strawberry Point. Other Prairie Rapids Doll Club members also will be on hand to answer questions, there will be a silent auction, and refreshments will be served.

The museum is open daily from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Hours are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturday. Admission is $7 for adults, with lower rates for children and families.

For more information or to arrange a tour call museum director Diane Formo at (563) 933-4615 or visit http://www.wildermuseum.org/