Walter Davis Baker

Walter Davis Baker is best known as the coauthor, with Ida Strawn Baker, of Batik and Other Pattern Dyeing, published in 1920. The book presents batik and related dyeing methods as practical art forms and teaching tools, and it introduces readers to both the history of batik and the step-by-step processes behind textile patterning.

The title page identifies Walter Davis Baker and Ida Strawn Baker as being "of the Waldcraft Studios" in Indianapolis, Indiana, which suggests a shared studio-based practice and teaching background. The book itself reflects that approach: it is direct, methodical, and clearly shaped by experience in art education and craft instruction.

Not much confirmed biographical information about him appears readily available in the sources consulted, so the surviving book remains the clearest window into his legacy. What stands out is his role in making decorative textile techniques approachable for students, teachers, and makers at a time when applied art was gaining new importance in American education.