Many years ago, a frail old woman arrived unannounced at the Norman Rockwell Museum. As her attendant pushed her throughout the galleries in her wheelchair, docents noticed that she was clutching an antique doll.
Then she spoke up, “My name is Rosemary Hunter. I posed for the little girl in ‘Doctor and Doll.’ I have kept the doll for all these years. I would like to give it to the museum.”Today the doll is one of the many treasures in the collection.
Another item related to “Doctor and Doll” is a photograph which archivist Corry Kanzenberg showed me. Ms. Kanzenberg wanted to correct my earlier post where I said that Rockwell's earliest known reference photo was from 1935. It turns out that the earliest reference photo in the Museum collection is six years earlier. It shows Miss Hunter and her doll posing along with Pop Fredericks in 1929. ------
More about the Museum at the NRM site.
Image licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing, Niles, IL