Category: Women
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Dressing the Women of the Van Riper-Hopper House (Digital Link)
This is a link to an interactive digital exhibit, created by Tessa Payer and myself in March 2024. At a glance, the exhibit relates each woman who lived at the Van Riper-Hopper House to a historic garment in the Wayne Museum’s collection, showcasing the variations in fashion and dress from roughly 1840 to 1930.
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Women’s Work: The Home Demonstration Agents of Passaic County, New Jersey
This Women’s History Month, we recognize the work performed by members of the Home Demonstration Unit between 1910 and 1930. Across the United States, home demonstration agents hosted educational presentations for the public, on topics such as home economics, nutrition, and modern technology. Their work was pivotal in improving the livelihoods of Passaic County’s rural…
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From Trash to Treasure: Reading a ca. 1855 Dress
WM.2022.755 is one of the lucky dresses in the Wayne Museum’s collection; we have an entry for it in our accession records. According to these records, WM.2022.755 was “worn by Rachael Bowden” around 1860. It was also noted to be in “poor condition” when it arrived at the museum, in 1965. Just how much can we…
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All that Glitters: The Coming-Out Party of Mae Anderson Bell
ONE-HUNDRED and thirty-two years ago, on a cold, snowy December night, the peal of laughter and the sound of Christmas carols rang through the streets of Paterson. The cause for such celebration? Miss Mae Anderson Bell, one of Paterson’s “fairest daughters”[1], made her grand appearance to dozens of the city’s most elite and distinguished citizens—the…