ABOUT ANNALEE

I never played 'house' with dolls," recalls Annalee Thorndike of her early years in New Hampshire. "I just made clothes." Following in her mother's footsteps, young Annalee became accomplished with a needle and thread, and by the time she graduated from high school in 1933, she was making wonderful little puppets and dolls.

Money was scarce during those days of the Great Depression, and Annalee - by her own admission - was never much of a student. Nor did she relish the thought of working 9 to 5 in an office! So she began making dolls to sell through the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen in order to "cough up some money to help out at home." Folks around her hometown of Concord were enthusiastic. As Annalee recalls, "My friends wouldn't leave me alone! They kept knocking on my door and saying, 'I have an idea for a doll,' or 'I know where I can get skis for your dolls.' Orders poured in and Annalee developed quite a growing business with very little marketing.

When she married Charles "Chip" Thorndike in 1941, Annalee put her doll making aside to become the wife of a chicken farmer and mother to sons Chuck and Townsend. Like Annalee, Chip disdained the suit-and-tie work world - even though he was the Harvard-educated son of a prominent Boston surgeon. He designed the wire frames that give Annalee's dolls their "Mobilitee."The couple's original chicken farm and auto parts yard now serves as the site of Annalee Mobilitee's "Factory in the Woods" in Meredith, NH.

The chicken business faltered in the early 1950s, and once again Annalee felt a calling to bring some money into the family coffers. She re-started her doll business in earnest, working from home. Remembering those fledgling days, she chuckles, "There were dolls everywhere, even in the bathroom!" From a "work force" of one paid laborer to a payroll of over 350 fine craftspeople, Annalee Mobilitee has grown into one of the nation's most honored doll firms. Annalee's own lively, "can-do" spirit shines through in all the bright-eyed dolls she and her staff create. From Santas to mice to bunnies and the beloved "Logo Kids," these felt-and-wire characters all meet their creator's stated goal: "To make people smile!"

Chuck Thorndike, has been President of Annalee Mobilitee since 1995, and enjoys traveling the country to spread the joy of his mother's delightful dolls.

Annalee's Story
written by the Museum of New Hampshire History

An exhibition celebrating Annalee Davis Thorndike's gift of dolls and personal memorabilia to the New Hampshire Historical Society was on view at the Museum of New Hampshire History from July 22, 2000, to November 4, 2001. The exhibition focused on her early career and work promoting New Hampshire tourism.

The Dolls of Annalee was sponsored by the law firm of McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton.

http://www.nhhistory.org/annaleeexhibit.html

Annalee Davis Thorndike is an important New Hampshire businesswoman and entrepreneur who built a home craft business in Meredith into a national company. Born in Concord, NH, in 1915, Annalee Davis Thorndike pursued her interest in art by making dolls. Her first creations were marionettes, then she began making cloth dolls. Children of the era typically played with cloth dolls with changeable clothes. Thorndike was not making toys, however. From the beginning, her dolls were in set positions, with the clothes sewed onto the doll. These were dolls for display, each with a story to tell. She began selling the dolls through the New Hampshire League of Arts and Crafts, which later would become the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. As the Great Depression progressed, she created new dolls with varied materials. During the 1930s Annalee began making her popular skier dolls.

In 1941 Annalee married Charles "Chip" Thorndike, the son of a Boston physician. Chip had become a chicken farmer in Meredith. Chip and Annalee worked on the farm through the 1940s and 1950s, until poultry farming was no longer profitable in New Hampshire. Needing another way to make a living, Annalee returned to making dolls. She started in the kitchen of her Meredith farmhouse, helped by local women. Soon every corner of the house was taken over with doll parts. Thorndike not only employed several women in her home, she took work out to be completed in other women's homes. Her husband Chip created clever wooden components for the dolls, including skis, ski poles, and little boats. It was Chip who designed the wire frame that held the dolls in position. The doll business was incorporated in 1955 as Annalee Mobilitee Dolls.

Annalee's dolls from the 1950s appeared in promotions in Manchester and Boston store windows. The State of New Hampshire hired Annalee to create dozens of dolls to help promote tourism. Annalee dolls that were skiing, fishing, and hunting highlighted New Hampshire attractions at the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, Mass., and at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

The success of the promotional programs launched the popularity of Annalee Dolls. By 1960, the dolls were being sold to retail outlets in forty states, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The company was by then a major Lakes Region business. In 1964, Thorndike moved the operation out of her house and into a "factory in the woods." It has expanded several times since then.

The individual Annalee dolls document hairstyles and dress of the times, creating a lasting statement about life in New Hampshire since World War II. The exhibition reflected Thorndike's artistic talent, hard work, and shrewd business sense. The display chronicled her experiences building a small home-based craft industry into a manufacturer of national importance, in the process telling a remarkable Yankee success story of perseverance and creativity.