Auburn, N.Y. — Bill Berry, of Auburn, has collected black memorabilia for over 40 years. Berry first started his collection with old postcards, particularly the ones showing negative images of African Americans. Over the years he has expensed his collection to include the dolls, salt and pepper shakes, cans of cleaner, syrup holders, water jugs, banks, sheet music and more.

Postcards from Bill Berry's collection of black memorabilia.

Berry speaks about some of the things he collects, "I remember at a certain point in time there was an argument that black people should seek to have this stuff destroyed. My position was that you always want to remember what happens when you allow someone to define who you are."

These are the first dolls Bill Berry collected.

In the early 1980s Berry was intrigued and therefore purchased two sets of twin dolls from an art gallery in Baltimore, MD. He remembers the artist calling these black Raggedy Ann and Andy type dolls soft sculptures. This was the beginning of his doll collections.

Berry is not sure how many dolls he has. They live all over his home. From the boy and girl tin dolls in the first floor bathroom to the cloth dolls, from the many Caribbean islands to the ceramic English antique black doll, there are dolls everywhere.

Berry lives in a 1900s Victorian home a few blocks from the Harriet Tubman Home and is the publisher of Aaduna, an online magazine for the arts.

Photographer's note: Contact Ellen M. Blalock if you have an interesting collection or know about one we can share. We are looking for collectors of all ages and interests. Email eblalock@syracuse.com with your suggestions.

