When most people think of dollhouse miniatures, forensics or crime scene investigations are usually the last thing to come to mind.

An interesting and fascinating use of dollhouse miniatures is the creation of dioramas or mini-vignettes representing the details found at a real scene of a crime. The crafter of these tiny crime scenes uses a dollhouse or room box and includes all of the lifelike detail of the life-size scene including furniture, body, weapon and even footprints. No detail is too small and each scene must include important components such as working lights and doors and windows that actually open. The seemingly most inconsequential details must be captured if the dollhouse crime scene is to be effective. These 3-D dollhouse crime scenes aid detectives in studying real clues that should be sought when investigating a real crime scene. They are also used as an important tool in training students and investigators who are interested in entering the fascinating field of forensics.

Thomas Mauriello, Professor of Criminology at the University of Maryland believes that in a world of computer-aided crime scene analysis, there is no substitute for hands-on experience – even if the hands are on a tiny doll representing the corpse of a victim. Mauriello has created 6 tiny crime-scene room boxes or dioramas which include important clues to the cause of death – be it accident, suicide or homicide. Conjuring images up from the scene of a horror flick, Mauriello’s miniature crime scenes include blood-stained walls and tiny death bed figures, many of which can be found lying face down in the garage or face up on the kitchen linoleum floor.

Mauriello reminds his students that the ability to examine the details of a crime scene in miniature form is essential – they cannot do that at a real crime scene as it’s impossible. It’s closed off so they cannot violate the integrity of the crime scene. Mauriello used to re-create his crime scenes by taking over a university house and turning it into a life-size crime scene. A huge undertaking, this would often take him days to prepare. Mauriello prefers the dollhouse miniature dioramas as they take much less time to prepare and are easily portable.

The originator of the dollhouse crime scene investigations was Frances Glessner Lee, an eccentric millionaires in the 1940’s and 1950’s who founded Harvard’s department of legal medicine. Lee spent as much as $3000 per miniature dollhouse crime scene diorama – close to the cost of a real house at that time. Lee was a perfectionist when it came to her dollhouse scenes. Bullets and shotgun shells were perfectly miniaturized and her miniature victims wore clothing carefully knitted by Lee herself. Lee became the honorary captain of the New Hampshire state police force and used her dollhouse crime scene dioramas mimicking real crime scenes to challenge the boys in her unit.

For more great information on this topic, we recommend reading The Dollhouse Murders by Thomas Mauriello.

The history of today’s dollhouse can be traced as far back as 400 years ago to the “baby houses” of Europe. Built in the 16th century, baby houses were cabinet displays crafted in Europe and were made up of many rooms that contained exquisite architectural detailing. Unlike the dollhouses of today, these baby houses were off limits to children, and were designed and built specifically for adults. Cabinet dollhouses were the prized possessions of affluent women living in large European cities. The dollhouses of that time as well as the miniature dollhouse furnishings and miniature dollhouse accessories within it were reserved for the wealthy with a price comparable to a modest real life-size home.

Miniature homes have been around for thousands of years. Some of the oldest known miniature homes furnished were found in ancient Egyptian tombs nearly 5,000 years ago. These completely furnished homes were made of wood and included many of the same furnishings and articles one might find in today’s dollhouse.

With the advent of the industrial revolution, factories began to mass produce dollhouses. Originally, dollhouses were popular in European countries such as Germany and England. Germany specifically had earned a reputation of crafting some of the most prized dollhouses ever made.

The manufacture of the American dollhouse began in the late 19th century. Dollhouse manufacturing grew more popular throughout the early 20th century as more companies began to produce them. Mass production was in full swing after World War II. Mass production allowed for greater output and more affordable dollhouses, but compromised the quality, detail and craftsmanship of traditional European custom dollhouses. During the 1950’s, the typical dollhouse was made of painted sheet metal and plastic furniture. However, the efficiency created as a result of mass production allowed for many young girls in the western culture to afford their very own dollhouse.

Today’s dollhouses are a hobby for both adults and children alike. Many still enjoy the challenge and reward of building a custom dollhouse much like the traditional dollhouses hand-crafted in Europe. Others enjoy building a dollhouse from a dollhouse kit, which includes a fully built house usually made of plywood or MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) and ready to assemble.