In 1864, Lilian Baker (c. 1860–1948) of Dubuque received a special gift from her uncle, Mr. George Dickerson Wood. While browsing the many wares being sold in and around City Hall during the “Northern Iowa Sanitary Fair,” George purchased a ceramic doll with bright blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and a delicate handmade dress for $25.00—a sum equivalent to over $500 today. Lilian’s doll was a so-called “Countess Dagmar” doll of the mid-1800s, characterized by a ceramic head of either marble-like bisque or glazed porcelain of German origin, with intricately molded hair and a cloth body.
The doll came with a tiny envelope addressed to the “Little Girl who buys this Doll.” The letter reads:
June 3, 1864
Dear Little Girl,
You perhaps have never seen Massachusetts on the East, and I have never been to the West, but this Dolly, which now belongs to you and which I hope you like, has traveled all the way from Mass. She was sent out to Iowa to show the noble people of the West that the East sympathizes with her in the effort she is making to aid our Union soldiers, so many of whom are brave Iowans.
If you would like to do so, I should be much pleased to have a note from you, telling me your name and where you live. Then I shall know which little girl is playing with the doll I have taken pleasure in dressing for Iowa.
Your friend,
Martha C. Stevenson
Dear Little Girl,
You perhaps have never seen Massachusetts on the East, and I have never been to the West, but this Dolly, which now belongs to you and which I hope you like, has traveled all the way from Mass. She was sent out to Iowa to show the noble people of the West that the East sympathizes with her in the effort she is making to aid our Union soldiers, so many of whom are brave Iowans.
If you would like to do so, I should be much pleased to have a note from you, telling me your name and where you live. Then I shall know which little girl is playing with the doll I have taken pleasure in dressing for Iowa.
Your friend,
Martha C. Stevenson
As Miss Martha Curtis Stevenson (1799–1866) was from the town of Brookline, outside of Boston, the doll was dubbed “Belle Brookline.” Martha was a well-known philanthropist who served on the United States Sanitary Commission in Washington, D.C., which sought to benefit Union soldiers and improve sanitation during the American Civil War. She and other donors to the Dubuque fair helped raise approximately $86,000 from June to November that year.
After changing hands a couple of times, the doll entered the collection of Miss Helen Floy Walker. Her sister, Elizabeth Sophia Walker Schaffert, donated the doll to the Dubuque County Historical Society in 1970.
To learn more about Martha Curtis Stevenson, please see the Massachusetts Historical Society’s Curtis-Stevenson Family Papers (Ms. N-288).