ME woman has collection of hundreds of Barbie dolls

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SOMERSET COUNTY, Maine — Some people reserve entire rooms in their houses for guests or storage space. Somerset County resident Patricia Woodward, however, had a bit of a different idea decades ago. Most of the second floor of her home is dedicated to Mattel's Barbie doll.

Woodward is mother to three sons, who she says never had much of an interest in playing with anything other than trucks and wrestling figures. For a long time, her collection of Barbie dolls consisted of just three — the original ones she had played with as a child. In 1996, though, when her sons were grown, that changed.

"I got into finding some friends that had Barbies, and I started buying and did some selling," Woodward said, adding she saw a notice once in the newspaper that a man was selling his entire Barbie estate. She decided to buy it and said from then on, the passion project "mushroomed."

Patricia Woodward in Somerset County has been collecting Barbies since the 1990s. She says she has close to 600 dolls so far — and doesn’t plan to stop any time soon. I’ll have her story tonight on @newscentermaine at 6 p.m. pic.twitter.com/H7hPXwTjxE

"I have almost 600 dolls. Probably 97 percent of those are still in boxes, never been removed," Woodward said. She said she has about a dozen notebooks, filled with a detailed inventory of the accessories, clothing, dolls, ornaments, etc. that she owns.

"I keep track of where I buy them, how much I paid for them, where I got them," Woodward explained, noting some of her regular stops include garage sales and thrift stores.

In 2002, Woodward completely redid one of the rooms on her second floor, making it totally Barbie-themed and throwing a party to celebrate with her friends. For her, the doll is a lot more than just a plastic toy. Woodward said Barbie represents the idea that women can do whatever they want to do.

"You get emotional sometimes," Woodward admitted. "Like, I got the whole set of The Wizard of Oz. I've got a lot of [dolls from] the countries [that] I probably will never go to."

Jesse Fairbanks, co-owner of Maine Vintage Toys, said since the Barbie movie was released this summer, they have been sold out of Barbie dolls. He said he thinks the brand is so popular because of the nostalgia factor.

"It brings back happy childhood memories," Fairbanks said, later adding, "Barbie is one that is kind of timeless, anyway. It always seems to be kind of that go-to toy, as far as doll collecting and doll playing."

Fairbanks said he has seen the original Barbie doll from 1959 (still in its original packaging) sell for between $8,000 and $8,500. Woodward said that based on conversations she has had, she estimates her entire collection is worth tens of thousands of dollars.

As for the future of her Barbie collection, Woodward said she would love to see it go into a museum for other people to enjoy. Her three original dolls, though, will be going to her granddaughter, who is 16 years old.