Rhoda Campbell Chase

Rhoda Chase was born on March 20, 1881 in New Bedford, Massachusetts.^[1] Her parents were Emma Eames Chase, a dentist, writer, and artist,^[2][3][4] and Harry Chase, a marine painter.^[5] She had a brother named Irwin Chase, who went on to become a designer and builder of PT boats.^[6]

Chase's family came from a long line of artists, dentists, and medical doctors,^[7][8] with her father's side of the family having medical doctors and dentists going back four generations. Her uncle, Frederick B. Chase, was a specialist in prosthetic dentistry.^[8] And her paternal grandfather, Henry Seymour Chase, both an M.D. and a D.D.S., was as Chair of Operative Surgery an instructor the Missouri State Dental School in St. Louis.^{[citation needed]} Her mother was the first female member of the American Dental Association.^[4] Her cousin, Lyna Chase, also became an artist.^[9]

In 1899, Chase graduated from the Mary Institute in St. Louis.^[10] She attended the Monticello Seminary for three years. She later studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts.^[9] She was a member of the St. Louis Artists' Guild. In 1905, she won 4th place in a St. Louis Post Dispatch and Artists' Guild juried competition, for her piece "Christmas Morn".^[11][5]

Around 1906, Chase was part of arts and crafts movement in St. Louis. She worked with decorative leather.^[12] From 1906 to 1907, Chase lived abroad in Paris with her mother, where she studied art. During her time off from school in Paris, she painted in Holland.^[3]

In 1907, Chase returned to the United States, moving to New York City with her mother "for the benefit of [her mother's] health", along with a plan to open a studio in the city so that she could continue creating her art.^[13][3]

Around 1914, Chase moved to Woodstock, New York, where she continued to live for 45 years.^[6] She worked as an illustrator, including illustrating a children's book-record hybrid called the Bubble Book, a collection of traditional children's songs and accompanying music sung by Henry Burr. It sold 9000 copies in the first month it was released.^[14]

Chase died August 1, 1959, in Kingston Hospital in Kingston, New York.^[6]

• 
  Fourth Place prize-winning artwork Christmas Morn (1905)
• 
  Illustration from The Merrill Readers: Fourth Reader (1915)
• 
  Page layout from The Merrill Readers: Fourth Reader (1915)
• 
  Illustration from The Child's World: First Reader (1917)
• 
  Illustration from The Child's World: First Reader (1917)
• 
  Illustration from The Child's World: First Reader (1917)

• Story Hour Readers Revised Book Two (1914)
• Wonderdays and Wonderways Through Flowerland, by Grace Tabor (c. 1916)^[15]
• Told By The Sandman (c. 1916), by Abbie Phillips Walker^[16]
• Mother Goose (Mayhew, Ralph and Burges Johnson)
• The Child's World First Reader (1917)
• The Child's World – Second through Fifth Reader (c. 1917), by Hetty S. Brown, Sarah Withers, and W. K. Tate^[17]
• Stories for Good Children (c. 1920), by Lora B. Peck^[18]
• So-Fat and Mew-Mew (c. 1918), by Georgiana Craik May^[19]
• The Christmas Reindeer (1926), by Thornton Waldo Burgess^[20]
• ...Far and Near: A Fourth Reader (1928), by Charles Edward Skinner, Mathilde Cecilia Gecks and John William Withers^[21]
• Friends to Make: A First Reader (1928), co-illustrated by Mabel Betsy Hill; written by Charles Edward Skinner, Mathilde Cecilia Gecks and John William Withers^[21]
• Playfellows: A Primer (1928), by Charles Edward Skinner, Mathilde Cecilia Gecks and John William Withers^[21]
• Fact and Story Readers (c. 1931), by Henry Suzzallo, George E. Freeland, Katherine L. McLaughlin, Ada M. Skinner^[22]
• For the Children's Hour (1923), by Caroyln S. Bailey and Clara M. Lewis^[23]