how I document my collection

Someone asked me on another website how I've documented my collection, so I am reposting it here.

I am very, very anal-retentive when it comes to my dolls. After about three years of collecting both vintage items (pre-1979) and the newer items I was buying (this would have been by the late 80s) and (gasp!) taking them out of the box, I knew I had to start documenting them. I am very, very glad that I did.
For the outfits, I put each separate one, plus its accessories, in clear plastic Ziploc bags, and then wrote which doll it was for, the stock number and/or name, and the year on it. For my dolls, each one has a little hand tag on her wrist. You can buy these at an office supply store.
Also, I had some recipe card file boxes and I used index cards to write the name of the doll or outfit on it, and if I still had it, I attached my receipt. My goal is to someday transfer the information on the index cards to a computer disc, but that may have to wait until if and when I retire. Right now all the cards are alphabetized in the recipe card file. (I've never used the boxes for recipes--I'm not much of a cook.)
Oh, and whenever I bought a doll, I photographed her and put the photo and her name in an album. (Again, I started doing this in the 1980s.)
I may well be the only person on the planet who has done this. People ask me all the time how is that I know so much about the 70s, 80s and 90s playline dolls and outfits, and it's mainly because of the documentation that I started in the 80s.

Mary

Skipper in the Barbie comics

On Twitter, I have been mentioning which issues of the 1990s Marvel Barbie comics include Skipper stories. Each tweet is just about one story. I'm going to list them all here together, by year, so this is 1991:
1991
Barbie 1, January 1991, Dirty Dancing. First of the Courtney klutz stories, with Courtney, Barbie, Skipper and Ken on a cruise and entering a dance contest.
Barbie 2, February 1991, The Co-Star. While Barbie is filming a movie in Mexico, Ken takes Skipper on outings as she waits for her sister to finish filming. The dolls’ swimsuits are all from the Wet N Wild line.
Barbie 3, March 1991, Snakes Alive! by Lisa Trusiani. A snake ends up in Skipper's domestic management (AKA home economics) class.
Barbie 4, April 91, Chirper Goes Home by Lisa Trusiani and Barbara Slate. Barbie and Skipper discuss what to do if a baby bird falls from a nest.
Barbie 5, May 1991, Packing Lightly, by Barbara Slate. Skipper can't make up her mind what to wear at the beach. Packing Lightly pictures Skipper's Tropical, Sun Sensation and Wet N Wild swimsuits.
Barbie 6, June 1991, Girls Can Do Anything, by Barbara Slate and Lisa Trusiani. Sexist Skipper is surprised to see female construction workers and police officers.
Barbie 6, June 1991, The Big Fall, Barbara Slate and Lisa Trusiani. Skipper learns to roller skate. Which is odd because Skipper's been roller-skating since the 60s!
Barbie 7, July 1991, Grand Entrance, by Barbara Slate. Skipper can't make up her mind what to wear to a party.
Barbie 9, September 1991, Top Shop by Lisa Trusiani. Skipper and Courtney buy plain T-shirts to decorate and sell. It's never mentioned but it obviously ties in the Skipper T-shirt Shop being sold at the same time.

April 24, 2010, new epier listings

I placed two items for sale on epier today:

Miss America Talent Show Raquel
http://www.epier.com/product.asp?1998157

1989 Barbie Valentines
http://www.epier.com/product.asp?1998156

to brooke

Brooke, would you like to introduce yourself? What do you collect in the Barbie doll world?

April 10, 2010, new epier listing

1985 Kehagias Cinderella doll
http://www.epier.com/product.asp?1996161

skipper on twitter

Last week, I crossed over to the dark side--that is, I registered with Twitter. Then I had no idea what to do. No one cares about what I had for breakfast. I finally decided to go back to my old standby--that is, Skipper. I've been writing short messages about the doll and now have two people following me. No one has yet said that I cannot write about Skipper, so I'm assuming it is okay. I don't see anything else like what I am doing on Twitter.
Everything I've posted has been written about before, either by me or by someone else, either on the Internet or in books or magazines. It's just being put in a new format.
http://twitter.com/skippercollecto

skipper's given name

People have asked me over the years what Skipper's "real" name is. There isn't one. There never was. I've always theorized that her first name started with an "s" and I also think that her middle name started with a "k."
So what were some possibilities? You have to realize that this doll was first on the market in 1964, and she was being designed in 1963, so her name would have had to have been a late-era Baby Boomer name.
Some suggestions: Susan (not Suzanne), Sharon, Sandra or Sally (not Sarah or Sadie). Kathleen/Kathy (not Katherine or Kaitlyn or one of their umpteem variations), Karen or Kimberly.
But on the other hand, we didn't learn that Tutti's name was actually Stacie/Anastasia for almost 30 years! So maybe we're still waiting to learn Skipper's "real" name!