Dear Christine,

Check the dissertation (and subsequent publications) by Jill Fields,
(Diss is on American undergarments in the 20th C--mostly 1900-1960, I
think. There are also a number of texts that address the figure of
"Columbia," the "Indian Princess" and the Statue of Liberty as female
figures that function as symbols for the U.S. You might run a search on
these as keywords in the Art Index to find visual examples. (Warning:
this is just the tip of the iceberg--female figures have been used to
represent abstract concepts, including the idea of "nation" for a long
time....)

Hope this helps.

Andrea Pappas
Asst. Prof., Art History
Santa Clara University