Theodora Alice Ruggles Kitson
Theodora Alice Ruggles Kitson (1871–1932) was a skilled artist from a young age.[1] Kitson was able to spend some time in France where she became a prominent Beaux-Arts sculptor—a period known for its use of bronze and naturalism.[2] As a woman in the arts, Kitson’s talents were often not considered legitimate and her husband—Henry Kitson—received greater press, overshadowing her work within the archive. This prompted her to go by a shortened version of her name, Theo, so she could be perceived as male. She was successful in this endeavor. Some documents and news reports refer to her with he/him pronouns, as Theodore Kitson,[3] and once her sculpture was credited to a so-called “Mr. Ruggles.”[4] Despite her artistic emergence within a sexist world, “in 1895 she was the first woman to be admitted to the National Sculpture Society. In 1904, Theo was also awarded the bronze medal at the St. Louis World’s Fair.”[5]
Classically trained, Kitson was known for verisimilitude in her sculptures. For her commission of the Hiker, she hosted a nationwide photo competition to decide which person would be the model for her monument commemorating Spanish-American War veterans. Soldiers of this war referred to themselves as “hikers,” whereas those of World War I were “doughboys” and soldiers of World War II were “G.I. Joes.”[6] Leonard Sefing Jr. was seventeen years old when he lied to enlist in the US Army to fight in the Spanish-American War. His image was submitted to Kitson’s competition, and she chose him to be the face of the Hiker monument.[7]
The first Hiker was commissioned by the University of Minnesota in 1906. In 1921, the Gorham Manufacturing Company—one of the most renowned companies that reproduce bronze sculpture—purchased the rights to the monument and cast it over 50 times placing it throughout the United States and making it Kitson’s most popular work. Though all reproductions of the monument were cast from the first Hiker, there is some variation in base styles and plaque placements.[8]
Kitson condensed the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and China Relief Expedition by following the popular tradition of centering the white male American soldier as a representation of the whole US military. As it promotes notions of Western imperialism and white manliness, the Hiker does not represent non-white Americans that fought in these altercations. From this monument we cannot know a version of history that isn’t white and male-centered; in other words, we cannot know a version of history that is authentic.