Laura Gardin Fraser

Laura Gardin Fraser (September 14, 1889, Chicago, Illinois – August 13, 1966, Norwalk, Connecticut) was an American sculptor and the wife of sculptor James Earle Fraser.

Laura Gardin studied under Fraser at the Art Students League of New York from 1910 to 1912. Alone or with her husband she designed a number of U.S. coins, notably the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar.

In 1931 she was the winner of the competition to design a new quarter with George Washington on the obverse. Her winning design was ignored by the then-Treasury Secretary, Andrew Mellon, who selected a design by John Flanagan. Fraser's design was coined as a commemorative five-dollar gold piece in 1999. In 1924, she was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1931.

Laura Gardin Fraser is buried next to her husband in Willowbrook Cemetery in Westport, Connecticut.

Laura Gardin was born on September 14, 1889, in Morton Park, a suburb at the time of Chicago. She received her elementary education in Morton Park schools. Laura attended school in Rye, New York, then Wadleigh and the Horace Mann School in New York City. She graduated from the latter in the class of 1907. At an early age she had shown an aptitude in modeling figures and working in clay, a talent she developed under the guidance of her mother.

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