Dorothy Shaver

Dorothy Shaver (July 29, 1893 – June 29, 1959) was the first woman in the United States to head a multimillion-dollar firm. She was a well known leader of the fashion industry.

Dorothy Shaver was born in Center Point, Arkansas to Sallie Borden and James Shaver. Her paternal grandfather was Confederate officer Robert G. Shaver. When she was five years old, the family moved to Mena, Arkansas and James Shaver opened a law practice. The Shaver House has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

Shaver graduated from high school in 1910 at the age of 17 and she was chosen by her classmates to give the commencement address. She then earned a teaching certificate from the University of Arkansas. Shaver returned to Mena and began teaching seventh grade. Her teaching career ended abruptly in May 1914, when the local board refused to renew the contracts of Shaver and three other single female teachers because they had attended an unchaperoned dance.

In 1916, Shaver and her younger sister Elsie moved to Chicago. While in Chicago, Dorothy studied English literature at the University of Chicago. A year later, the sisters moved to New York City. Elsie began making dolls out of bandage cotton painted in pastel colors. Inspired by the success of the Kewpie Doll, Dorothy began selling five different versions of Elsie's Little Shaver dolls. A Lord & Taylor executive and distant cousin named Samuel Reyburn was impressed by the dolls and helped the sisters set up a workshop producing dolls for the next four years.

Samuel Reyburn hired Dorothy to head comparison shopping bureau at Lord & Taylor in 1921. A year later, she established an interior decorating service at Lord & Taylor. Shaver was elected to the store's board of directors in 1927.

In 1928, Shaver mounted the Exposition of Modern French Decorative Art at Lord & Taylor as a spin-off of the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes. In addition to furniture and home goods, Shaver's Exposition included paintings by artists such as Picasso, Utrillo, and Derain.

...
Wikipedia