This Edwardian dollhouse fills an entire wall in Claudia Jarratt’s living room. (Photo by Laura Andrews)

Many people in Harvard know 46-year resident Claudia Jarratt as a former board member of the Unitarian church; or as a mother who raised nine children—seven of them adopted; or as a child and family therapist; or as the author of internationally acclaimed books on adopting children and the stages of grief in childhood.

Many people do not know that Jarratt collects dolls. She collects them, creates stories for them, dresses and displays them, and fills rooms in her home with them.

The first thing a visitor sees when entering Jarratt’s home is a wall filled, floor to ceiling, with miniature rooms—a large Edwardian dollhouse. Jarratt and her first husband designed and constructed the house, from the wooden moldings in each room to the handmade shingles on the roof. They researched Edwardian houses, wallpaper, furnishings, and clothing to make certain that the house and contents were true to the era—1901 to 1910. Much of the original furniture has been sold to help pay college tuitions and replaced with 1920 to 1940 furnishings. However, the wallpaper and many of the fixtures Jarratt originally installed remain.

A “family” lives in the dollhouse: the mother, who is a flapper; the father; the daughter, Frances, who loves cats; and the infant, George. In winter, Jarratt dresses them in warm clothes; in summer, they wear lightweight fabric. They have a game room with a checkerboard, a sewing room on the top floor, and a large kitchen on the first level, between the dining room and washroom.

Jarratt says that she is a “play with” person where dolls are concerned. Many of her dolls are play scale, an industry term that means the dolls are large enough for adults to handle easily—about 15 to 22 inches high for teen and adult dolls.

“I’m a storyteller,” Jarratt says, and she works with her dolls like a fiction writer or playwright works with characters. In addition to the family in the dollhouse, she imagines stories for the other dolls she owns. She creates backgrounds and personalities for each of them. The displays she creates are scenes from the lives she imagines for them or replications of paintings, books, or celebrations.

For example, Jarratt set up a display to capture Monet’s garden as depicted in the book Linnea in Monet’s Garden by Christina Bjork. She used a Linnea doll on a bridge and two more dolls in a boat under the bridge. Another display celebrates the March 3 Japanese Doll Festival, or Girls Day, which is called Hinamatsuri. In the display, larger dolls have recreated the festival by setting up small dolls that represent the emperor, empress, and attendants in traditional court dress.

Jarratt is in the process of creating 14 doll characters based on the tales in Mercedes Lackey’s fantasy novels. As Jarratt decides what her stories will entail, she gathers costumes and props to support the characters’ action.

“Gathering,” which is defined by Jarratt as buying or collecting, is one of the interests shared by many members of the Yankee Doodle Dollers Club, of which Jarratt is now president. At its May 12 meeting, Jarratt said, members listed their interests, which included research, shopping, applying costumes, staging, dressing, making doll houses, customizing (changing wigs, swopping heads or bodies), and helping each other.

In addition to gathering, research is one of Jarratt’s favorite doll-collecting activities. As with the Edwardian furnishings, Jarratt wants the props to reflect the era or story she is creating. The research comes first, then the gathering. Jarratt uses eBay to find items and to check prices. Other favorite shopping sites are garage sales, flea markets, websites, and the three chat rooms she uses.

Jarratt has played with dolls for as long as she can remember. Her grandmother passed along several of her own dolls, and Jarratt’s children and grandchildren have played with the dolls, but not as passionately as she, Jarratt says. Only recently have two of her grandchildren seemed headed in the same direction.

When she was 12, Jarratt says, she found a doll that she wanted badly, but was “too old” to have. Scores of years later, one member of the doll club found the same doll, and Jarratt decided that it was time to own it.

“I’ve always loved imaginary play and dolls,” she says. “I’ve finally given myself permission to play.”