Velvalee Dickinson

Velvalee Dickinson (October 12, 1893 – ca 1980) was an American spy convicted of espionage against the United States on behalf of Japan during World War II. Known as the "Doll Woman", she used her business in New York City to send information on the United States Navy to contacts in Argentina via steganographic messages. She was finally caught when one of her contacts in Buenos Aires moved and her messages were returned. Early life and career Born as Velvalee Malvena Blucher in Sacramento, California to Otto and Elizabeth Blucher (or Blueher). She graduated from Stanford University in 1918 but did not receive her Bachelor of Arts degree until January 1937, allegedly because she had not returned books owned by the university. In the late 1920s to the mid-1930s, Dickinson was employed in a brokerage company in San Francisco, California, owned by her future husband, Lee T. Dickinson. Shortly after her marriage, Dickinson worked as a social worker in the area until 1937. The firm did business with Japanese people and the Dickinsons' interest in Japan grew so much that they joined the Japanese-American Society, where they began to rub shoulders with members of the Japanese consulate. The FBI later also determined that she had made frequent visits to the consulate, attended important social gatherings at which Japanese Navy members and other high Japanese government officials were present, and entertained many Japanese people in her home. When the brokerage firm's success suffered a downturn, so too did the Dickinsons' role as proponents of good Japanese-American relations. In 1937, the Dickinsons moved to New York City, where Velvalee worked for a short time as a department store employee. On December 31, 1937, she began operating her own doll shop, first at her residence at 680 Madison Ave and later at a separate store at 714 Madison Avenue, where she operated for several years until she moved the store down the block, to 718 Madison Avenue in October 1941. The Dickinson doll shop catered to affluent collectors throughout the United States and overseas interested in obtaining foreign, regional, and antique dolls. Lee Dickinson assisted his wife's business by handling the accounting until his death, on March 29, 1943.