Skookum Mom with Papoose Doll

Early/Mid 20th Century

11.5" H x 3.25" L x 4" W 

Hand Crafted Doll Adorned with Flannel, Hide Leather, Felt, Fabric, Glass Beaded Necklace, Plastic Head and Braided Hair with Plastic Headband and a Baby on Her Back from Temple TX

In Very Good Condition with Black Mark on Nose

Skookum dolls are vintage Native American-themed souvenir dolls, primarily produced from the 1910s to the 1960s. They were not authentic Indigenous creations but were designed by Mary Dwyer McAboy (1876–1961) of Missoula, Montana. She started with dried apple heads (which wrinkled into expressive, lifelike faces) on stuffed bodies with wooden legs, later shifting to composition and plastic materials. The dolls were mass-produced as tourist items, often sold with the slogan “Bully Good” (claiming “Skookum” meant something positive in a Native language, though the word has varied meanings in Chinookan languages).