|
|
|
|
Fall 2007 From the Godey Room: Exciting New Venue to View Historic Clothing By Madelon S. Ali, Chairman, Historic Clothing Committee The Duxbury Historical Society and the Duxbury Free Library have formed an alliance that will support the mission of both institutions to augment the education of the community. The library has offered to make space available to show pieces from the DRHS extensive historic clothing collection on a permanent rotating basis. The connection began two years ago when Elaine Winquist, Director of the Duxbury Free Library, was viewing the historic clothing on exhibit as part of the Christmas at the King Caesar House event. She lamented the fact that the beautiful historical clothing, part of the collections owned by the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society, are so seldom seen. Her observation was true. Even though different pieces from the approximately 2000-item clothing collection are exhibited as part of the room decorations at the King Caesar House Christmas event and during the summer tours, only a limited number of people from the community actually see the exhibits. Duxbury Historical Society Director, Patrick Browne and Historic Clothing Chairman, Madelon Ali concurred. All agreed that items from the collection should be exhibited in a prominent location at the library on a rotating basis. Thanks to a donation by Mrs. Jane Fogg and matching funds from the historical society, the library has offered to allocate space for a case that will display one or two pieces at a time, on a four-month rotation. Textile conservation concerns, such as lighting and protection were addressed and Craig Bloodgood, display expert, sculptor and project curator at the Art Complex Museum was contracted to make the case which will be permanently installed in the library on the second floor in mid-September. The first item to be exhibited in the case this fall will be a burgundy colored silk dress with woven pattern of pink flowers donated by Mrs. Jane Fogg; it belonged to her great, great grandmother who lived in Kentucky, and is from the 1838-1850 time period. Upon viewing such a radiantly beautiful silk dress, one that has survived for so long, lovingly cared for by generations of a proud family, the viewer’s imagination must be stimulated. Clothes like this are a rarity in our era of fleece and casual fabrics, and are used mainly in haute couture. Questions may arise such as: who owned this piece (in this instance we have ample provenance from the donor); where did the silk textile originate, and what trade route brought it to the frontier state of Kentucky in the early 19th century? Further, who made the probably French textile into a dress; what political, economic and social circumstances influenced the owner and wearer of the gown; or what may have been worn underneath to support the skirt? The library has also offered technical support; assistance to make printed and electronic materials available to provide answers to these and other questions. The library staff has been an enthusiastic advisor and supporter providing suggestions to ensure the success of the project, and to arrange for publicity. The Historic Clothing Committee is pleased to use its creativity to make the lovely items in our collection available for people’s viewing and enjoyment. We dress the mannequins as if they were the actual owners of the clothing. Dressed mannequins are exhibited throughout the King Caesar House during the summer tours and the King Caesar House Christmas event. A full exhibition of Men’s Fashions in the 19th Century was on view during 2004. We continue to add donated items to the costume collection at DRHS, which has items from the mid-18th century to the 1970’s. These clothing items are the actual pieces that were worn by people and donated by families in Duxbury. Precious artifacts like these from our past require very special handling. As stewards of these clothing items, the committee feels an obligation to conserve, store and care for the lovely historic clothing items in the approved museum manner. We, as non-professional volunteers, have had to educate ourselves as to the proper identification, conservation standards, cleaning, and storage techniques recommended by established experts in the field of historic fashion at distinguished museums. By attending seminars, scholarly symposia, accessing print and electronic source material and making contacts with the experts our confidence and credibility has increased. One of our expert contacts, Madelyn Shaw, Vice President for Collections and Exhibitions at New Bedford Whaling Museum and former curator at Rhode island School of Design Museum has co-authored a recently published book entitled American Silk, 1830-1930. She will be guest speaker on November 25th, 2:00 PM at the Merry Room at the Duxbury Free Library. Her subject is Silk in New England Society, 1730-1930. This was the title of an exhibition of which she was curator at Smith College in 2003. We hope that this new opportunity to view and enjoy the DRHS historic clothing items will be of interest to everyone, and that the supporting materials will be an inspiration to take advantage of the programs the library and the historical society provide to enrich our lives. |
|
Send mail to
pbrowne@duxburyhistory.org with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
