Thread Lace D'Oyley, Smallman and Ingram Doilies
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Mary Green, 1982
Object number1982.011.005
Label TextConsumers began to embrace the use of paper doilies like these from the late 1930s. By this time, what had been a decades-long fad for textile doilies had begun end. Fewer women had the time or inclination to make them. Home décor had changed and more women had entered the paid labour force. For those who still wanted to line their dishes or protect surfaces, paper doilies fit the bill.
John Bamlet Smallman (1849-1916) and Lemuel Hill Ingram (1851-1901) first opened a dry goods store in 1877. By 1905, they headed the Smallman & Ingram department store at Richmond and Dundas. It featured amenities like a restaurant and became the biggest department store in Western Ontario. Simpson’s of Toronto purchased it in 1944. The building still stands today.
NameDoily
