The Fed’s Ties to the Barbie Doll

Amy Farber, research librarian in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Research and Statistics Group,  reports:

 Ruth Handler (1916-2002) was one of the founders of the Mattel toy company (1945) and the originator of the first Barbie doll (1959). Her children were named Barbara and Ken. Several sources (including a 1995 Lodi News-Sentinel article) identify her as the “first woman on the Federal Reserve Board.” They’re not talking about the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (that was Nancy Teeters). Handler sat on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (appointed by the Board of Governors) from 1971 to 1974.