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1917. "Mrs. Newton D. Baker." Elizabeth Leopold Baker, wife of the Secretary of War, strikes a vixenish pose. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.
My mother's cousin, born 1904, had a fox stole sort of like this lady's. It had the head with a snap mechanism so that it could grab its own tail and stay around your neck. As I kid, I thought it was great fun for dress up play.
That isn't fox. It appears to be mink or martin.
[Or marten. - Dave]
About 1955 or thereabouts, my friend Butch Wilson and I came upon a fox stole that had been discarded in Jeffersonville, Ind. We removed the ears and part of the scalp and then turned it in to the post office for a $5 (?) bounty. We lived off that bounty for a week.
"Mrs. Baker was Miss Elizabeth Leopold of Pottstown, Penn.
The couple were married in 1902, and have three small children--Jack, Peg, and Betty--whose very names suggest the harmony and simplicity of the Baker household. Mrs, Baker, who will become one of the Cabinet hostesses, is a woman of much force and charm. She is greatly interested in civic matters. At the moment when official word came from Washington that her husband had been named Secretary of War, and when Mr. Baker himself was engaged in a law suit in another court, Mrs. Baker was appearing in thwe Police Court in a case against a grocer charged with selling rotten eggs."
-- Cleveland Plain Dealer.
In 1902 Baker married Elizabeth Leopold of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Baker was intelligent, charming, and well educated. She was an accomplished soprano, and when she sang at one of Cleveland's pop concerts in 1911, Baker reported that she wore a new dress with "as large a hat as anybody, which is something in this day and generation."
Beautiful architectural detailing in the door, side panels and pillars. True craftsmen at work. So rare to see today.
The snow melting on the steps lets us know why she felt the need for the whole skulk of foxes. Despite what we think of her outfit, she looks grave and modest, probably felt herself to be a well-dressed lady of her time, with quite a stylish hat.
Quick, someone call Animal Control before these rabid critters completely gnaw off this lady's posterior! And their mother is trying to strangle her!
For Newton's sake, I surely hope she came with a dowry.
Ah, the days before polyester fun fur. At least they used the whole animal.
Looks like her hat was once wildlife too.
Today, even Granny Clampett wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those things.
Wonder if she field-dressed those poor things herself. All that just to keep your hands warm.
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