Object Details
maker
unknown
Description
Portia Sperry designed this cloth doll in 1933, which she named after Abraham Lincoln’s mother Nancy Hanks and dressed in a print dress, apron, and sunbonnet. This was the second doll she designed, produced, and sold with a network of local farmwomen in her rural Indiana community during the Great Depression. A charismatic entrepreneur, Sperry persuaded the Marshall Field department store in Chicago, IL to sell the dolls and the Quaker Oat company to donate boxes for shipping them. Her efforts brought thousands of dollars to the women of Brown County, Indiana.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Mary M. Seubert
date made
1930s
ID Number
2008.0173.01
accession number
2008.0173
catalog number
2008.0173.01
Object Name
doll
Object Type
dolls
toys
Physical Description
cotton (doll covering material)
batten (doll stuffing material)
cotton (dress material)
cotton (apron material)
cotton (bonnet material)
wool blend (shawl material)
cotton (corset material)
Measurements
doll: 12 in x 4 1/2 in x 2 in; 30.48 cm x 11.43 cm x 5.08 cm
place made
United States
See more items in
Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
Cultures & Communities
American Enterprise
Data Source
National Museum of American History
classified
Toys
Children
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1409051