VERNAL — Now that the drama and anxiety of the election is over, a museum in Vernal is offering a different perspective on the presidency: an exhibit that honors more than three dozen women who have held the position of first lady.
Most of the displays at the Uintah County Heritage Museum are pretty much what you'd expect: Old West rifles, saddles and buggies, even a couple of historic bedpans connected with the county's medical history.
But in glass cases on the museum's second floor, there's something a visitor might not expect to see: the nation's first ladies. There are dolls representing 43 of them, arranged chronologically from Martha Washington to Mrs. Ronald Reagan.
"Nancy Reagan, she's our last doll we have here," said Lana Fullbright as she took the Reagan doll out of the display cabinet. "You can tell she's a very classy lady."
As the museum's curator of collections, Fullbright has her favorites. One of them is Mary Todd Lincoln, who buried a son and a husband while living in the White House, "still trying to represent the country with grace and dignity while going through the personal torment," Fullbright said admiringly.
The dolls — which are a bit larger than a standard Barbie doll — were created in 1976 for the nation's 200th birthday.
An artist named Phyllis Juhlin Park made them out of porcelain, sawdust and wood. She painted in the faces of first ladies basing them on old photos and portraits. Volunteer seamstresses in Vernal re-created the first ladies' Inauguration Day dresses in miniature.
"It was a labor of love," Fullbright said. "They were very proud of their work and they're proud that (the collection) is still together here in the community."
Many first ladies have gone unappreciated, Fullbright said, especially the early ones who were kept in the background as their role grew in the White House.
"They were representatives of the country," she said. "Today the first ladies have a big responsibility."
The position of first lady is not an official one; the duties are not spelled out in laws or in the Constitution.
"No," Fullbright said. "It's just kind of a given that they are the hostess of the White House."
Ever since Park died many years ago, museum officials have hoped an artist would step forward to resume her work . The collection hasn't been updated since the 1980s, and since Tuesday night, there's a new first lady in waiting.
"Every four years we're like, 'Oh, we'd like the next doll,'" Fullbright said. "We are missing four, and now we will be missing five."
Donald Trump's triumph, with Melania Trump at his side, temporarily set aside one question: What if a woman becomes president?
"We'll have to wait and see if that happens in four years," Fullbright said. "Will we get our first 'first gentleman' or not? Or if that's what the title will be called."
Melania Trump was born in what today is called Slovenia, but she won't be the first first lady to have been born in a foreign country. That distinction goes to Mrs. John Quincy Adams, who was born in London. But Melania Trump will be the first first lady to have been a professional fashion model.
"I think she's always very fashionable in her clothing choice," Fullbright said. "The first ladies, being representatives of the country, set standards for the latest fashions in society around the world."
The first ladies are about to go online. Fullbright said the museum plans to fix "a few wardrobe malfunctions" and then rephotograph the dolls for a brochure and for the internet.
And if they can find an artist to do it, a miniature Melania Trump may have a new home in Utah.