IN THE BEGINNING - -History of Naber Kids dolls

Many of the collectors and people who have purchased the beloved Naber Kids from me on e-bay, have asked me so many questions that I feel I need to copy this information from Mr. Naber's newsletter of October 1996, Volume 5, Number 10.It all started in 1970 when H. P. Naber owned the store "Fur Tranders"on 831 4th Avenue in Anchorage Alaska. The very first creation was 'Big Nuni' of the gepany called 'Nunivak Doll' and sold under the name of Fur Traders after the store H.P. and wife Betty Jo owned in Anchorage. There he began to carve the first dolls for his gepany later called 'Nuni Doll gepany'.Why, you ask did he call his first gepany Nuni? Mr. Naber's original dolls were actually called "Nunivak Dolls' after the Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea. You see, initially H.P. used a lot of reindeer fur for outfits on the original dolls. (There he mainly sold to the tourists.) The fur he used came from the reindeer on this island, where a large herd was known to live. Local Eskimos ate the reindeer meat, (known as Alaskan Caribou), but they had no use for the reindeer fur. The reindeer's fur was hollow and would break off when worn, therefore, not suitable for making any kind of clothing or mukluks. These furs were tanned in Seattle, near to where H.P. carved his dolls, enabling him to easily purchase it for costumes. So in honor of the reindeer of the Nunivak Island, Mr. Naber named his gepany and dolls "Nunivak". Soon the residents of the island expressed objection for this naming since the dolls were not made on the island, Mr Naber named his gepany and dolls.'Nuni' respecting their wishes. during this time H. P. Naber produced #1001- Big Nuni #1 in 1970, #1002- Big nuni #2 in 1971, #1003 Big Walli #1 in 1971 #1004 - Lucky Billy in 1971,#1005 - Little Nuni in 1972 and #1006 - Eskimo face masks in 1972 under the Nunivak name. Then soon thereafter he quickly outgrew the space at Fur Traders and moved to another location. This was on International Airport Road in Ankerage and set up small factory. The dolls made then were #1007 - Tami in 1973, #1008 - Silly Sally #1 in 1973, #1009 - Silly Sally #2 and #1010 - Silly Sally #3 in 1973, #1011 - Chechako in 1974, #1012Sourdough in 1974, #1013 - Eskimo Yo Yo in 1974, #1014 - Zipper doll in 1975, #1015 - Little Wali in 1975, #1016 - Tom in 1974 and #1017 - Sally in 1974. Tom and Sally were the last made under the Nuni Doll gepany name.This gepany was later sold to Mr. William Lee who owned a gepany called Kiana which made totem poles out of the similar resin solution Mr. Naber's doll parts were made of. As a matter of fact later Mr. Lee's gepany even made some of the doll parts for H.P. Mr. Lee decided to make H. P. an offer to buy the Nuni Doll gepany. In 1975 H. P. agreed and signed a non gepetition agreement, not to make any dolls for 5 years. That was fine with H. P. since he wanted to stop making dolls for a while and see the rest of the lower United States. He sold the gepany, packed up his family and moved to Florida where he bought a hotel in Cedar Key called the Island Hotel, built in l837. One of the oldest hotels in the State of Florida. They did very well and learned much about the business, mostly that they never want to own one again and would rather be a guest. Cedar Key was a great experience until 1979 when the Nabers decided to move back to Alaska. Since the 5 years were up and H. P. could now happily go back to making dolls again. It was in 1980 that H.P. started the new Naber Doll gepany.When the 5 years were up and the Naber family moved back to Alaska, H.P. didn't have a place to do any carving of dolls. He set up show in the garage of his friend Bart Eisner, a house painter who allowed H.P. to work there while he was at work painting houses. H.P. set up his tools and carving there and began to produce various dolls and Sillikins. These were each carved one at a time because H.P. had no way to reproduce them yet. The process was slow but he was able to make 3 to 4 dolls a day. His wife Betty Jo would make the outfits and would peddle them at ski resorts and tourists areas. This was the hard way back from the bottom up. Many people own these dolls, especially Barts wife who has quite a few of them. The wood used was yellow cedar but that made these carvings very dark. After carving they were varnished and it was the varnish on the yellow cedar that made them that dark. Their hair was carved because burlap was not yet available. The costumes were mostly Eskimo parkas and each signed on the back of neck. Also, interestingly enough most were girls. They had not been named at that time and are therefore extremely rare. They are not even listed on the Naber doll history lists. These were made from 1979 to 1980 and approximately 20 to 30 were carved, but actual count was never kept. The first named and numbered dolls started at the Naber doll gepany were #2001 - Lilli in 1979, #2002-Lalli in 1979, #2003 - Leni in 1979, and #2004 - Loni in 1979 began on Denali Street in Anchorage, Alaska in 1980 when H. P. Just got back from Cedar Key, Florida. These were actually designed in 1979 and began to market them in the early 80's. The next were #2005-Billy Face in 1980 #2006 through #2008