Ancestry Magazine

When Kathie Bennett and Norma Jeane Ferguson set out to raise money for the Fitzgibbon Cancer Center in Marshall, Missouri, their simple idea of creating a custom dollhouse for auction soon gained a life—and a history—all its own.
As the pair set up home in miniature, it suddenly dawned on them—why stop at decorations? “We decided what each room should look like, then we thought about the people who might have lived there,” Kathie explained.
Two months later, a family history was born. Included in the house were pint-sized donations including old stamps, photographs, and newspaper clippings, as well as a journal that commemorated the newfound history. Aside from praise, the house also earned $4,000 at the auction. And the best part? The buyer donated the house back to the hospital. Now anyone who visits the center can appreciate the creative family history endeavor.
You can do the same thing for a little girl in your life this holiday. Start with a dollhouse, dolls, and decorations. Use your own family history (and the following steps) to build the rest:

1) Decide on the location and time period of your dollhouse. Look at your own ancestors—did they settle in a particular town or did they live during a particular time period that you’d like to focus on?

2) Create a timeline of important events. Notice the people, occupations, and lifestyles that surrounded your family.

3) Create your dollhouse family. Pull names and relationships from your own family history. Drop the name of the intended recipient of the dollhouse into the family as well—what could be more special? Scan and shrink family photos to help identities stick.

4) Create a memory box and fill it. Include old posters, photos, stamps, Bibles, newspaper clippings, and journals. Make a full-sized box for the recipient to thumb through and a thumbnail-sized one for the dolls. You can find some mini artifacts at craft and specialty stores; others can be scanned, reduced, and printed.

5) Get other family members involved. History is always more fun when it’s a group effort. Get input and artifacts, large and small, from other family members—you may even learn something more about your family in the process.