With the ability to mass produce clothing in the 21st century, it might be hard for people to imagine how precious garments were in the 19th century.
Fashioning Illinois: 1820-1900, which is exhibited until March 31, 2022, at Illinois State Museum’s Lockport Gallery, features 22 garments.
“What’s really neat about it is it’s got something for everyone,” said Erika Holst, curator of Fashioning Illinois: 1820-1900.
“If you are stressed out and just want to go and see the show and look at pretty, old clothes, there’s plenty of eye candy. We also go into some detail about the process of making cloth and making clothing and mending clothing. If you want to dig deep, that story is there too.”
The exhibit, which looks at the first eight decades of Illinois statehood, includes an 1860s homespun linsey-woolsey dress, an 1880s Native American woven beaded headband and an 1890s mourning costume.
“One that is really poignant is a nightgown that belonged to a woman and she wore it in 1855. It’s a maternity gown. It’s got these pleats,” said Holst about the piece that came to the Illinois State Museum from a descendant.
“This woman was a bride in 1854 and died in childbirth in 1855. It’s a really small window of all these life experiences and changes happening to this woman so fast. There were so many women like her who died in childbirth.
“Because we have this nightgown we’re able to preserve her story and the other mothers’ stories like hers. It was almost exactly a year to the day of her wedding that she died in childbirth.”
Fashioning Illinois: 1820-1900 also features a reproduction of a dress worn by freed slave Lucy McWorter (1771-1870). An 1850s photograph was used for the collaboration with the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum.
“We were really thrilled to have it. It was recreated for us by Mary Helen Yokem, a really talented seamstress,” said Holst about her fellow Springfield resident.
“We definitely are aiming to be inclusive and representative in our exhibit content. Unfortunately, basically due to white bias of curators over many generations, we don’t have a lot of surviving African American clothing in museum collections in general.
“We didn’t have an example in the Illinois State Museum’s collection. The next best thing is to turn to a reproduction based on a photograph.”
Fashioning Illinois: 1820-1900, which debuted in July 2020 at Illinois State Museum in Springfield and was displayed there until May 2021 before being transported to downtown Lockport, offers a glimpse into the museum’s Illinois Legacy Collection.
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“The Illinois State Museum has a really significant collection of historic textiles and garments,” said Holst, who is also curator of history for Illinois State Museum in Springfield.
“Prior to the exhibit most of these dresses had never been on display. The initial idea was just to get all these fabulous clothes out on exhibit where people can see them.”
Lead support for Fashioning Illinois: 1820-1900 at the Lockport Gallery, which is on the first floor of the historic Norton Building in the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor, is provided by Lockport Woman’s Club.
“We’re super grateful. They’ve been really kind and generous,” Holst said.
“A lot of the women connected personally with the stories of making clothes and mending clothing and what they used to wear.”
According to Holst, there have been huge fashion changes from the 19th century to today.
“It has to do a lot with the amount of labor involved in clothes and the way people acquire clothes. Back in the 19th century, all clothing was custom-made especially in the first part of the 19th century. You mended it and made it last for years,” she said.
“Now we consider our clothes disposable. You go to the store and buy something for $10. If you get a hole in it, you throw it away, which is not a super sustainable way to live but that’s where we wound up.”
In addition to its Springfield base and Lockport Gallery, Illinois State Museum operates Dickson Mounds in Lewistown.
“We’re a museum for the entire state of Illinois so north to south, Chicago to southern Illinois,” Holst said.
“We try to tell stories and highlight culture throughout the state. We hope people see themselves in the exhibits and programming we produce.”
Fashioning Illinois: 1820-1900
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays until March 31, 2022
Where: Illinois State Museum’s Lockport Gallery, 201 W. 10th St., Lockport
Tickets: free
Information: 815-838-7400; illinoisstatemuseum.org
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.