This archive is made up of 7 boxes, each catalogued as shown below.  The whole of this archive is available to view in the Red Gables office and one day we hope it will be accessible online. 

Pat Pickles and her husband Rennie had a passion for all things Jig Dolls. It was started by Rennie at the beginning of the 1960s and when Pat “joined the team” in 1968, it became a shared love. They collected information and dolls from all over the world. Their passion led to the planned publication of their first book on Jig Dolls but in late 1987, Rennie died. Pat was determined not to leave their research unpublished and the book came out in 1988.

The book then led to more information being sent to Pat from all over the world and to Pat’s collaboration with Chris Brady, Val Knight and Chris Geris. In 2004, EATMT held the Big Jig as part of Traditional Music Day and following that, Katie and Pat set about completing a revised and much enlarged 2nd edition. Pat visited East Anglia on several occasions to work alongside Katie at the Trust on the book, eventually leaving EATMT her collection of photographs and research.

This second edition was eventually published in 2018 by which time Pat was living in a care home which Katie visited bringing the final book as a gift. Pat died in the early autumn in 2019. You can read more about the publication of this second edition HERE.

There are some translations of foreign language articles still to be made (French & Norweigan – if anyone can help, please get in touch). With thanks to Martin & Corine Judkins for translating Dutch and German to English and to Alan Helsdon for endless hours of scanning and organising.

Overview of Pat Pickles’ Jig Doll Archive

Box 1 

Section 1 Pages from ‘American Clockwork Toys’

Section 2 Photographs

Section 3 Photographs

Section 4 Weathervanes, A Dolly’s Lament, Fred Whiting Interview

Section 5 Printed Information

Box 2                    

Section 1 Buskers and Songs

Section 2 Ted Beresford

Section 3 From Val Knight

Section 4 Newspaper Cuttings

Section 5 Mike Fenton

Section 6 Ron Fuller

Section 7 Miscellaneous

Box 3

Section 1 Miscellaneous

Section 2 Dancin’ Dolls & Walkin’ Mules, Willard Watson

Section 3 Foreign Dolls

Section 4 Foreign Texts

Box 4                    

Section 1 *Patents

Section 2 *From US Auction Sites

Section 3 *Miscellaneous from WWW

Section 4 *Makers

Box 5                    

Section 1 Photos & Correspondence

Section 2 Miscellaneous info and notes

Section 3 Book: The Ghost of Jigger Jack

Section 4 Pictures on CD and Slides

Box 6

Section 1 ** Mr Jollyboy

Section 2 Plans, Instructions & Diagrams for dolls

Box 7 

Section 1 **Photos for revised edition – original selection

Section 2 **Miscellaneous Photos

Section 3 *Trad Music Day Big Jig 2004 Information Sheets etc

Section 4 **Correspondence

Section 5 ** Book: The Brightest of Entertainers

For a full index of the Jig Doll Archive see below:

All contributed by Pat Pickles except:

* = Contributed by Katie Howson

** = Joint contribution by Katie Howson and Pat Pickles