The Doll Museum at the Old Rectory

Took K here for the Barbie exhibit. She loved it, and wanted half the Barbies (and knew some of the history already.)Housed in a nice historic building, it's just three small rooms. But they are nicely arranged and chock-full of interesting dolls, some almost 200 years old. There's a printed guide, and a treasure hunt sheet. The staff are super friendly and talked to Baby K a lot, about the displays and about her dolls. There are furnished rooms with interesting artifacts as well as antiques for sale, but we barely saw those. Definitely worth a visit if you are anywhere nearby, and a detour if you are at all into dolls like some K.

During the family trip to Columbus and while my brother was taking the exam for his insurance agent's license, my mom and me decided to explore. I told her there was this great antique store I wanted to try and brought her over to The Doll Museum at the Old Rectory as a surprise. My mom loves dolls. Still owns several of them. She used to have a ton of them. I never really liked them, they used to creep me out as a kid as I sometimes felt they were watching me. Still she absolutely loves them and I thought it would be a fun surprise for her to visit a Doll Museum. Anyway she realized the surprise as soon as she saw the sign. I laughed when she said... you lied! You said this was an antique store... well its both i responded!We walked in and were greeted by two sweet ladies who are part of Worthington Historical Society. They told us a bit about the society as well as the history of the building we were in, which was built back in 1845 as the Rectory of St.Johns Episcopal Church. It now holds the Doll Museum which has 19th and 20th Century dolls from all over the world and also has an antique/consignment store attached. They took us on a tour of the place and talked about the dolls they had on display. My mom was so happy throughout the tour, and made the entire trip to Columbus worth it. Once we were finished we shopped in the antique store where i found an antique porcelain figurine from Denmark, a few items i thought would make my living room look nicer, and some jewelry I bought for my bestie. I got her this vintage turquoise bracelet! Also the proceeds help fund the historical society, so it was for a good cause!My whole experience here was wonderful. Although I will never love dolls... i love antique stores. By the end, we left with a smile on our faces ready to continue enjoying our family trip. If you are into dolls or antiques, definitely come check this place out!

The Doll Museum has quite the impressive collection of dolls located on the first floor of the historic Old Rectory. They currently have a Christmas display in the front room, which featured a variety of dolls and figurines enjoying a winter scene. Cases full of dolls of different types, styles, and periods are around several other rooms. A very neat dollhouse with a fascinating history and decorated with items from travels from all over the world was very interesting to see. There's also a gift shop with a variety of items from history and about Worthington. The staff was very friendly and welcoming!

If dolls are your thing, then this museum if for you. I was suprised at the quality and variety of dolls the Old Rectory has on display. You'll find Parisian dolls with unglazed china bisque heads with elaborate, blonde hairdos, decorated with bows, flowers and frills.The French fashion model dolls have real hair wigs (which seems a little creepy to me), elaborate costumes and 19th century accessoriesThe Milliner's models are slender French dolls who were sent to the UK and America to show off the latest French fashions, while a selection of French bebes - or "Juvenile" dolls- catered to the very young girls. Portrait dolls included an assortment of "fashionistas", like Empress Eugenie of France (wife of Emperor Napolean III), Countess Dagmar of Denmark (married to Czar Alexander III), French artist Rosa Bonheur and Alice in Wonderland A diverse collection of American dolls are also on display. including a those with papier mache heads and a homemade body, a Joel Ellis doll made in 1873 from rock maple, and a rare example of a doll by Izannah Walker with a painted fabric face and original clothing. The Doll Museum also has special exhibition, including one in conjunction with its Japanese dolls presented to the City of Worthington by its sister city Sayama, (Japan), a town renowned for doll making. $1.50 is charged for admission and it is open Tuesday - Friday: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Cool place! And the two ladies I talked to seemed to really care about their local history! It was more than dolls... And they had a lot of cool recommendations on local historical events...Will definitely return

My girl scout troop brought us here ages ago, so pardon if my memory is a little fuzzy. I remember, mostly, a feeling of it being really interesting and really freaking creepy. However, I was a complete tomboy, so it's likely that I was just being dramatic for the sake of being dramatic.It's always been on my list of places to go back to. There are a few images that stuck in my head and i'm curious to see how accurate they are. I'm also curious if they'd mind me drawing in there. I recall the costume being amazing. I'm going to reason that they wouldn't mind, seeing as they do have a research library there. I'd love to see if they have patterns for the costume, purely based on curiosity to compare how patterning has changed. What is this 'life' of which you speak?