As part of the Museum of Work and Culture's Free Holiday Open House, join artist and curator Brett Day Windham for a talk on Pawtucket-based dollmaker and entrepreneur Martha Jenkes Chase. Born in 1851, Chase lived her entire life in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a town founded by her family. Chase became involved in the social reform movements of the Progressive Era, using her privileged position to improve the lives of others. The Era’s focus on child development–combined with her familial access to the latest advances in medical care–inspired her to make a soft-bodied doll with a molded face that was durable and easy to clean. Her success led to an invitation to create a training doll for nursing students. Affectionately named “Mrs. Chase,” the doll changed medical care forever. Chase expanded her business by creating some of the first character dolls, along with play and hospital dolls in multiple sizes, and with light-to-dark complexions. A disciple of the child-study movement and a child labor reformer, Mrs. Chase wanted all children to see themselves in her dolls and have opportunities to learn to care for a baby through play. She pushed the limited agency available to women to the edge, and rejected the brutal social norms left in place by the Industrial Revolution.
The Rhode Island Historical Society is proud to have collected a variety of Chase’s dolls, including one that will be on display in the Museum of Work and Culture for the Rhode Island Historical Society’s Winter Toy Display, on view from December 6, 2024 until February 8, 2025.
Brett Day Windham (born in Cambridge, England, raised in Providence, Rhode Island) is a Rhode Island-based artist, designer, and curator. She received her BFA in Fine art and Creative Writing from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, a certificate in painting from Studio Art Center International in Florence, Italy, a teaching certificate from Brown University, and an MFA in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design. She has curated shows in North Carolina, Virginia, New York, and Rhode Island. Her work has been exhibited at The Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia), Smack Mellon (New York), the RISD Museum (Providence), University of Maine Museum of Art (Bangor), and Rocky Mountain College of Art (Denver), among others, and has been collected internationally. She is represented by World’s Fair Gallery in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Rhode Island Historical Society, the state's oldest and only statewide historical organization, is dedicated to honoring, interpreting and sharing Rhode Island's past to enrich the present and inspire the future. Founded in 1822, the RIHS is an advocate for history as a means to develop empathy and 21st -century skills, using its historical materials and knowledge to explore topics of timeless relevance and public interest. As a Smithsonian Affiliate, it is dedicated to providing high-quality, accessible public programming and educational opportunities for all Rhode Islanders through its four sites: the John Brown House Museum, the Museum of Work & Culture, the Mary Elizabeth Robinson Research Center and the Aldrich House.
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