Betsey Metcalf Baker, born in 1786, was a manufacturer of straw bonnets, entrepreneur and social activist based in Providence, Rhode Island and Westwood, Massachusetts. At age twelve, she developed a technique for braiding straw, allowing her to emulate the style of more expensive bonnets, and to make them more accessible to working -class women. Until this time, “Leghorn” bonnets from Italy were considered the highest quality bonnets, but could be quite expensive. Betsey's bonnet-making method eventually proved more accessible and less expensive than established methods because of an embargo that was put in place against imports from Napoleonic Europe. Using her new method, she and her sister built a profitable business, and she began to teach other local women this new technique. As an adult, Baker moved to West Dedham for a schoolteacher position, and in 1807 married Obed Baker, a transporter of munitions and supplies. In time, Betsey became involved in activist causes. During the Great Famine of Ireland, she collected food, and other supplies to send to Ireland. She also advocated for ending slavery. Baker was honored by the state of Rhode Island in 1858, which commissioned a portrait of her to hang in the newly-constructed Union Station, with the following inscription. Resolved, That Mrs. Baker, as the first inventor in the United States of the art of plaiting, or braiding straw for ladies’ hats and bonnets, - a business which now gives employment to thousands of persons and and millions of capital, - is especially entitled to honor and respect from this society, incorporated for the encouragement of domestic industry in this her native State.