Colonel Fancy's Porcelain Doll Enthusiast Quarterly

Colonel Fancy's Porcelain Doll Enthusiast Quarterly is the world's oldest continuously printed periodical on the topic of porcelain doll collection, care, and fashion.

Beginning of Publication

The periodical which would be later known as Colonel Fancy's Porcelain Doll Enthusiast Quarterly began in 1866 under the unnoteworthy name The Yearly Porcelain Doll Enthusiasts' Report, published out of a small printing house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The United States was recovering from the recently ended Civil War as well as the subsequent assasination of Abraham Lincoln, and the people of the North and South needed some common interests around which to rally. Immediately following the end of the Civil War, the United States became gripped with by a porcelain doll craze which cut across social, racial, and economic classes. Seeking to capitalize on this, the United States Department of the Interior commissioned the printing of a yearly publication documenting the fashions and trends in the world of porelain doll collection in order to encourage interest in something which would unite the peoples of both the North and the South, repairing the cracks which had riven the nation so recently.

Colonel Waldtorf von See

In 1872, a man who called himself Waldtorf von See immigrated from the newly united German state from the area previosly ruled as Prussia. His true name is unknown, as Waldtorf von See is a name he invented upon arival in the United States. He claimed to have been a colonel in the Prussian military and that he had fought in the Franco-Prussian war; however, contemporary records cannot verify that any man matching the battle history given by von See ever existed. What is clearly verifiable is that he entered the United States with a vast expertise and interest in porcelain dolls: their manufacture, classification, history, popular fashions, and collection. It is said (though not verified) that Colonel von See arrived in the United States with two suitcases one containing clothes and the other containing the most important pieces from his porcelain doll collection, the rest of which he presumably left in Prussia which has been since lost due to his obfuscation of his origin. A talented engineer, he was sent to Philadelphia by the immigration authorties where he secured a job in the city's engineering corps. In his spare time, he find his way into the local porcelain doll collecting community. When the printing press for The Yearly Porcelain Doll Enthusiasts' Report fell into disrepair Colonel von See offered his time freely to bring it into good repair, thus beginning his involvement with the publication of the report. He began assisting in the production of the publication in his spare time, compiling information on the lastest in doll fashions and collecting behaviors as well as writing articles for the report. By 1877, he had been able to secure a permanent job with the publication and had worked his way up to being the chief editor of publishing the report. Under his leadership, between 1877 and 1889, The Yearly Porcelain Doll Enthusiasts' Report expanded, becoming a quarterly report rather than yearly. Furthermore, rather than simply collecting information about the year's trends, the report began influencing trends, becoming a periodical collectors across the country and in Western Europe looked to when deciding what would be the prevailing fashions for the following year. Colonel von See himself wrote many influential articles during this time. Initially, he wrote under his name in the US, "Colonel von See"; however, he observed that such a non-Anglo sounding name troubled people, and his name was frequently pronounced "Colonel Fancy". Therefore, beginning in 1878, he began publishing exclusively under the name "Colonel Waldorf Fancy". Sadly, Colonel Waldorf Fancy died was killed unexpectedly in 1889 during his participation in a bar fight. A drunk patron at the bar confronted Colonel Fancy, accusing him of being "a dandy" and that porcelain doll enthusiasm was something best left in Europe.

Reorganization to World War 2

The porcelain doll community was devestated by Colonel Fancy's sudden death. It was feared that the momentum driven by Colonel Fancy's prolific efforts to expand porcelain doll collecting as a national hobby and to expand the periodical's influence on the trends would be lost. However, surprisingly, his death ironically lead to a boom in porcelain doll collecting and fashion. Those who served directly under Colonel Fancy at the periodical immediately reorganized the magazine after his death, seeking to consolodate his influence and continue it through a periodical recreated in his honor. Beginning in 1890, the report was retitled Colonel Fancy's Porcelain Doll Enthusiast Quarterly, continuing to this day honoring his name. This also served to position the periodical as an avatar for Colonel Fancy and his ideas about the direction of the porcelain doll collecting community for many years to come. It further surved as a a symbol around which the community could rally as it grieved the loss of such a great and influential man. Thus the periodical's readership really took off after Colonel Fancy's death and the subsequent renaming of the periodical. Almost all major shifts in porcelain doll philosophy, design, and style sprung from the pages of Colonel Fancy's Porcelain Doll Enthusiast Quarterly between reorganization and World War 2. These include: Porcelaine Nouveau, Speckled Surfacsism, Baxterism, Neo-classical Colored Structure, and Reconstructed Supermanism

Participation in Wartime Covert Operative Communication

During World War 2, in addition to continuing to influence war-time fashions, the Quarterly served a special patriotic purpose. The Quarterly was one of the few American periodicals which was still widely distributed in war-time Europe, due to the continue popularity of the porcelain doll hobby, particularly as a means of escape. However, one reason The Quarterly was able to maintain avenues for distributing the publication in Europe was through explicit help by the US government. Articles in The Quarterly were routinely used to communicate sercret information to operatives distributed throughout war-time Europe. The most prominent example of an article in The Quarterly which was meant to covertly communicate information to operatives (revealed postwar when records were declassified) was "How to Dress Your Dolls While Sabotaging the French E-27 Railway Line on May 26".

Postwar Expansion

After the end of the war, the postwar economic book in the United States led to a public with a renewed and ravenous hunger for all things related to porcelain doll collecting. The Quarterly expanded to accomodate this need, publishing seven rather than four times per year. With this expansion, The Quarterly began to target a wider audience. With a seven-issue-per-year publication cycle, more articles could be devoted to serving the needs of casual collectors rather than only hardcore collectors and those on the leading edge of fashion. Thus The Quarterly was able to server casual collectors without comprimising its reputation, artistic integrity, or influence among the most elite in the porcelain doll community.

Contemporaryr

The Quarterly has done a good job of adapting to the digital era, while still maintaining a loyal print publication subscriber base. One can now receive digital versions of The Quarterly through its iPhone app, called iPorc. The Quarterly maintains its reputation as the most influential source for the latest trends in the porcelain doll world.