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Frances Brundage (1854–1937)
Artist Bio:
Frances Brundage was born Frances Lockwood in Newark, New Jersey, on June 28, 1854, the daughter of architect and mural painter Rembrandt Lockwood, under whom she first studied and began sketching as a child. She married marine artist William Tyson Brundage in 1886, and although she considered Newark her home town, she spent most of her adult life in Brooklyn, living for many years on Decatur Street and also spending summers in Cape Ann, Massachusetts.
Brundage became especially noted as an illustrator of children’s books, beginning her professional career in her teens with work for Louisa May Alcott and eventually illustrating titles such as “A Child’s Garden of Verse,” “Rip Van Winkle,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “Arabian Nights,” and several Shakespeare plays. She also wrote and illustrated four children’s books of her own. In addition, she created sentimental postcard designs and notable paper doll series for Raphael Tuck & Sons, and later illustrated storybooks for Stecher Lithographic Co. in the 1920s and produced numerous books for the Saalfield Publishing Co., including at least one major paper doll title. Her style has also been associated with early paper dolls for the Sam Gabriel Co. and with an unconfirmed but strongly Brundage-like title for Charles E. Graham & Co.
Frances Lockwood Brundage died at her Brooklyn home on Decatur Street in 1937 at the age of 82, shortly after completing a children’s art textbook titled “It’s Fun to Draw.”
Source: Adapted from Paper Dolls and Their Artists, Revised Edition by Mary Young (1993), with additional biographical details from the obituary “Frances Brundage Dead; Illustrated Children’s Books,” Times Union (Brooklyn, New York), March 28, 1937.
This artist entry is part of the OPDAG Paper Doll Artists Index, an ongoing research project. Entries are updated as new information is confirmed. We welcome corrections, additions, publication information, images, and other materials that help preserve and document the work of paper doll artists. Please contact Jenny Taliadoros at info@opdag.com if you have information to share.
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Publication Notes (selected)
These notes highlight representative titles and key reprints/box sets that reused Brundage’s dolls, rather than a complete bibliography.
Raphael Tuck & Sons
Children From Many Lands – series of envelope paper doll sets, one doll with four outfits per envelope.
Series 1: England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland.
Series 2: Turkey, Italy, India, Japan.
Series 3: Germany, Alsace, Canada, Holland.
Series 4: Russia, Spain, Switzerland, France – known only in sheet form as part of Father Tuck’s Doll Sheets; likely issued as an envelope series, but not yet confirmed.
Reference: Sheet No. 4 discussed in Midwest Quarterly, Fall 1981, “Father Tuck’s Doll Sheets.”
McLoughlin Brothers
The New Model Book of Dolls #236 (1904) – reprints Brundage’s four “Children From Many Lands” dolls, using three of the four outfits for each.
Wide World Costume Dolls #538 – later reprint of the same material.
Sam Gabriel Co.
Postcards and early paper dolls; many unsigned sets are widely accepted as Brundage’s work based on style, though individual titles are not fully documented.
Charles E. Graham & Co.
Cuddley Dolls #0225 – paper doll book whose artwork closely resembles Brundage’s style; attribution remains unconfirmed.
Stecher Lithographic Co.
Storybooks illustrated in the 1920s; no confirmed paper doll sets identified to date.
Saalfield Publishing Co.
Dollies to Paint Cutout and Dress #1180 (1918) – book of six paper dolls printed in color with six duplicate pages for coloring. The six dolls were reused in many later books and box sets. The dolls sometimes appear enlarged from their original 7¼" size to 12", or reduced to about 5½", and in some reprints their faces, hair, shoes, outfit colors and even names are slightly altered.
The Four Little Dolls #1170 (1920) – storybook written and illustrated by Brundage featuring four paper dolls. Known copies retain two dolls: “Gladys” (the same figure as “Elizabeth” from #1180) and a new Black child doll, “Saraphine.” Dolls “Rose” and “Violet” are missing but are likely reused from #1180. The story concerns four dolls in Santa Claus’s workshop.
Saalfield reprints and box sets using #1180 dolls (known)
218, S218 & X218 – Dollies to Paint Cutout and Dress (1918 or undated reprints), usually with four of the original dolls and sometimes a 12" doll; coloring pages may or may not be included. Merrimack Corp. issued a later reprint in 1982.
1171 – My Book of Paper Dolls, no date, listed in 1920s–early 1930s catalogs; issued with at least two different covers (only one signed).
1171-804, 804, 936 – reprint numbers associated with the red-cover edition of My Book of Paper Dolls, circa early 1930s.
2051 – The Book of Paper Doll Cut-Outs (1927) – includes two dolls from #1180 plus a story.
2051 – Paper Cut-Out Dollies (1927) – companion title, also with two dolls from #1180 plus a story.
1B, 1BS – My Sweet Dollies (box).
2A – Little Playmate (box) – 12" doll.
2B – Dolls I Love Best (box) – 12" dolls.
2BS – The Doll I Love Best (box) – 12" doll.
3B – Six Dollies to Cut Out and Dress (box with six sheets, each numbered 3-A, featuring approx. 5¼" dolls).
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