Major Accomplishments ...

Angels Attic

Eleanor and her friend, Jackie McMahan founded Angels Attic in 1984. Angels Attic is a two story Queen Anne Victorian house built in 1895 which harbors a museum of antique dolls, dollhouses, miniatures, and toys in Santa Monica, California.

Jackie’s granddaughter, Carlee, who is autistic, attended a non-profit school that needed money to maintain its programs. To answer that need, Jackie and Eleanor, who had both collected dolls as children, decided to have a revenue-generating show of dollhouses and dolls in Jackie’s garden. In 1975, they charged a small fee for visitors to enjoy a light lunch and to view tour the doll houses. The number of interested people who came to view the dollhouses astounded them. They had to close the gates after the 500 th visitor, arrived. “We were afraid we would run out of food!” It was an eye-opener for them about how popular dollhouses are.

After several progressively more successful shows, Jackie and Eleanor decided that their vast collection needed a home of its own. With this in mind, in the early 1980’s, they purchased what was then a boarding house and were faced with the challenge of converting the rent-controlled property into the beautiful facility that it is today. Once they had freed the house of its renters, they gutted it and completely restored its resplendent interior, grounds, and garden. They have filled it with exquisitely crafted antique dollhouses from around the world, mostly dating back prior to World War II.

Although the school which Jackie’s granddaughter attended has since closed, the museum, a nonprofit entity, continues to provide donations to the Julia Ann Singer Center for Autistic and Developmentally Handicapped Children.

For hours of operation and more information about Angels Attic, please visit our website at www.angelsattic.com.

Costume and Textiles Department – Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Another of Eleanor’s noteworthy accomplishments was the founding of the Costume and Textiles Department at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (which was then known as the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art) in the early 1950’s. She gives much of the credit for the department as we know it today to the efforts of Caroline (Mrs. Rudolph) Liebig.

Henry Dreyfuss, noted industrial designer and visionary, agreed to donate his services to design the space for the department. When Mr. Dreyfuss was shown the closet-sized space that was to be offered for the Costume Department, he said, “I do not design closets.” The Board of Governors reconsidered the space and offered an adjoining area which housed a collection of feathers from the South Seas which were relocated.

The first exhibition in the new galleries, “150 Years of Brides,” opened in November 1953. Eleanor donated her own bridal gown, designed by Renie, to the collection.