Thursday, August 2, 2018

Help save Dolls' Houses Past and Present e-zine


"Dolls' Houses Past and Present (DHPP) began in 2009 as an online meeting place for owners and collectors, conservationists and restorers of both old....and new dolls houses......From that very small beginning, it has grown considerably and is now an internationally significant collaborative information site which:
  • is referenced by museums and sellers of antique and vintage dolls houses
  • researches and documents dolls house makers of all periods,....in production in the USA, the UK, Germany, Sweden and other countries 
  • has a Photo Gallery with over 38,000 photos in over 2500 photo albums, uploaded by individual members
  • holds detailed photographic databases of dolls houses made by the famous UK firms G & J Lines and Lines Bros Triang, Vol. 1: 1919-30, Vol. 2: 1930-41, and Vol. 3: 1946-71
  • lists over 165 dolls house makers as Categories in the Photo Gallery, aiding recognition and identification of their dolls houses
  • has 30 back issues (click on any issue to view contents) of the e-zine...., which publishes original research, presents rare antique dolls houses, and shares members’ collections and original creations
  • has Discussion Forums with over 32,000 posts by members in over 2500 topics, which are particularly important for enabling members to get help identifying and restoring their dolls houses. There are nearly 1200 members worldwide, many of whom gladly share their expertise in identifying makers, restoration, or finding materials and miniatures....."

"Dolls Houses Past & Present is not a business, so has no income. Membership is required to be able to post on site, but joining is free. The site is not monetized and carries no external advertising."

"Dolls houses can be culturally significant, adding to social history by perfectly preserving, in miniature, homes of a given period in time. Queen Mary's early1920s dolls house at Windsor Castle in the UK is one well-known example, but by no means are all royal residences! Many examples of much more humble homes exist, and a great number are represented in the Dolls Houses Past & Present photo albums."

"The site is now in crisis, because the structure of the website itself is failing. The web host used since the beginning no longer supports the site. The alternative site builder that was offered by the current host is not compatible with the sites needs. DHPP has only recently learned that the host does not hold back up of DHPP files, neither can it access DHPP data by any file transfer protocol, so there is a very real danger that the unique archives may soon be lost.  DHPP is now faced with the need to raise £10,000 for a new website to be developed urgently to its specification."

"Please, if you are able to help Dolls Houses Past & Present, any contribution, no matter how small, will be very gratefully received. We recognize that this is not a life or death cause, and it may affect only a small number of people, but this unique specialist archive once destroyed would be very difficult, if not impossible, to restore."

Because of copyright rules, I wasn't able to share pictures from this e-zine, but I have added many links to different information shared from the many issues already published. Please check them out, but know that there is so much more information that has been shared by members....from restoration helps and making dollhouse furniture and food, to the history of so many different dollhouse makers from the 19th and 20th centuries. 

As stated earlier, DHPP is not a business...it has no income, membership is free, and the site has no external advertising. Rebecca Green, site owner and editor of DHPP, and her group of administrators give freely of their time to produce and run this website and they would like DHPP to remain with free website access to all. 



You can donate by clicking on the following link:  FUNDRAZR

Things to know before you donate...
 →FundRazr hosts small campaigns like this one for free, but does ask for a voluntary contribution from donors. The extra contribution towards FundRazr's running costs is voluntary, and contributors can opt out. To do so, set the amount to £0.
→You do not have to open a FundRazr account in order to contribute a donation. 
→Donation amount is shown in British pounds. As a rough guide, against a few major currencies, £1 today (8-2-2018) is worth €1.12, US $1.30, Can $1.70, Aus $1.77...obviously, these values fluctuate daily. Paypal can be adjusted to send in another currency or to show the PayPal conversion rate. Paypal Help has full details.

No matter how large or small, every single donation will help to save a truly wonderful dollhouse website. Please help if you can....and many thanks!


2 comments:

  1. Hi Would you be able to give me the contact information for Rebecca Green? I am trying to find out more about her article on https://www.dollshousespastandpresent.com/issue16march2013p9.htm
    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rebecca Green is the editor of Dolls Houses Past and Present. You can contact her on the website at https://www.dollshousespastandpresent.com/contactus.htm

      Delete