- [Margaret] Everything in this house is handmade right here in Providence.
There are porcelains, there's metal work, there's woodwork, there's painting, there's the rugs, there's the dolls.
- And doll furniture so exquisite and charming, even big kids find them irresistible.
There's nothing in the oven.
These pieces, called Tynietoys, were all handmade and hand painted in the early 1900s by artisans at the Handicraft Club on the east side of Providence, which is still active today.
Margaret Lederer is a past president.
- When you see them and you see the the quality of painting, the quality of the woodwork, each piece is like a small sculpture.
The attention to detail is phenomenal.
- [Pamela] It's thanks in part to this man, Sydney Burleigh, a prominent and prolific artist.
He was a leader of the Providence Art Club, where his paintings are still displayed.
So are the dragon and irons he forged, and pieces of furniture he made.
Burleigh is perhaps best known as co-architect of his East Side studio, the iconic Fleur-de-lys building.
He even designed the griffin guarded fireplace.
But he had another studio in his hometown of Little Compton that looks like it came out of a storybook, a cat boat outfitted with sides and a thatched roof, christened Peggotty, after the nurse who lived in a similar beached boat in the Dickens novel, "David Copperfield".
- I think he saw the potential in the old boat and the opportunity to do something really joyous with it.
And you see that in the choices that he makes throughout his career.
The boat used to sail across the Sakonnet River as a ferry between Little Compton and what is now Middletown, Rhode Island.
- And he actually worked in there?
- [Marjory] He worked in it.
He had tea parties in it.
There was a stove in it to keep everybody warm during the chilly season.
- [Pamela] Marjory O'Toole, Executive Director of the Little Compton Historical Society, says their archives are full of photos of Burleigh and friends putting on Punch and Judy puppet shows and costumed theatricals.
- He loved whimsy.
He loved working with his hands.
Much of his work was to promote the arts and crafts movement in America, pushing back against the age of industrialization.
So we see beautiful work, metal, wood, paint.
I think it's fair to call him sort of a Renaissance man.
- [Pamela] And a man with a devilish sense of humor.
Among the watercolors and oils Burleigh painted, he did some early trick photography, printing this double exposure of himself at Peggotty studio.
He also made this fantasy map of Little Compton, with mermaids, pirate ships, and his own face peering out from the compass.
And then there's his hand cut and painted wooden creche.
- Just as Burleigh inserted his face into the map that he made, we believe that this is Burleigh looking out at us from the face of Joseph.
So he had this wonderful habit or tradition of inserting himself into his artwork in a very comical, humorous way.
- [Pamela] What's more, Burleigh is also believed to be the face of St. Nicholas in this engraving.
Turns out the high-spirited Burleigh became Santa's helper in reality during World War I, when an embargo was placed on German goods.
- There became a concern among the artists and crafters in Providence that the children's toys being produced in Germany would be blocked, and the Rhode Island children would not have the opportunity to have toys at Christmas.
- [Pamela] So, two women from the Handicraft Club decided to make dolls, doll houses, and furniture, and they turned to their good friend Sydney Burleigh for assistance.
- And he gave them advice on how to standardize their designs and make it more of a business rather than, you know, a bespoke hobby.
- They drew upon him to be an advisor and to help them decide the scale of the buildings, the dollhouses, and the pieces of furniture, which were modeled after pieces that are in the RISD Museum collection.
This is their model they called the Mansion.
It was the most costly of all their models.
- [Pamela] Burleigh designed six different New England style dollhouses.
Everything was handmade, from the rugs on the floor to the wooden doors, to the original mural Burleigh created for the wall.
- [Margaret] One of the rarest pieces that still exist is this harpsichord.
- [Pamela] Also rare, the dolls.
But he's a jolly little fellow.
And... - As you look in the dining room, you can see that there is a variety not only of historically correct and proportioned furniture, but also, Tynietoy had made the metal pieces.
I think we have a soup tureen in there and we have plates and- - And a punch bowl.
- [Margaret] And a punch bowl.
- [Pamela] Each piece of furniture is impressed with the Tynietoy trademark or a paper label.
Soon, the company was advertised as a tiny shop for tiny toys in the tiniest state of the union.
- As the company grew through sales of the dollhouses at FAO Schwartz in New York, as well as Marshall Field in Chicago and through a mail order business, they needed more production size.
So, they moved to the building where the RISD Auditorium is now.
- [Pamela] The company went on to hire students from Rhode Island School of Design and World War I veterans to do production and painting of the toys, each a piece of historic preservation in miniature.
- So, it's really a celebration of women, of craft, and of community, and that's something which we value.
- Sadly, in our collection, we only have one tiny little chair from the Tynietoy company, but we treasure it.
- [Pamela] O'Toole says although Burleigh and his wife never had children of their own, she believes he cared about them and understood the importance of play.
And she says Burleigh is admired for his spirit, his refusal to grow up and put away the things that bring delight.
- He was an adult who was not afraid to take a wonderful, childlike joy in what life had to offer.