Fort Dearborn Doll c. 1941

Wayne White created this watercolor of a Fort Dearborn doll, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. The doll wears a pink dress with puffed sleeves, a gold belt, and red shoes. She carries a basket containing blue material. The Index of American Design, a WPA project that documented American material culture, commissioned artists like White to render objects like this doll. This project provides a snapshot into a specific moment of American history, the Great Depression. During this time, the Federal Art Project supported artists and encouraged them to document and celebrate American traditions and craftsmanship. These images were not intended as personal artistic statements, but as a collective effort to define and preserve American visual culture. As historians, we can use resources like the Index to understand the social and cultural values that shaped artistic production in the United States. By considering the historical context, we see how art is contingent on social and institutional forces.