Are you aware that the Townsend Historical Society holds one of the largest collections of colonial era clothing in New England? For the past 10 years a crew of workers, led by Sandi Starrett, and accompanied by Carol Conaway, and Jan Johnson and others, have been working to assess and catalog and photograph each item in the collection. The collection includes dresses, pantaloons, shawls, aprons, shirts and tunics, hats, gloves, bags, children’s clothing, umbrellas, lace work, and textiles. Many of these items were worn and used by members of the Reed family and were in the house when it was purchased by the THS.
Example: Shawl
Nancy Rexford, an expert in American clothing, and a noted author, examined this shawl on July 24,1995, and it has been accessioned into the clothing collection as item XY 828. Ms Rexford notes that “it is a dark brown cotton shawl from c.1815-1825. It is in good condition despite holes, chewed and some stains. It has been repaired with darning stitch but it majority intact. The shawl is a very rare, cheap printed shawl with mitered corners in the design probably made in England or Scotland.” Ms Rexford notes “May have arrived in Townsend by a peddler. It is 66” x 58” 2 sides hand hemmed, 2 sides selvages, machine made (loom)”
Did the Reed family indeed purchase this shawl from a peddler? I wouldn’t be surprised.
Sandi and the Clothing Committee gather on Wednesday mornings to examine and record items. This process involves examining the item, writing a description of it, assigning the item a catalog and location number, and photographing the item. The item is then carefully prepared for storage and is then added to the racks, and boxes of clothing, in a special room in the Reed House. The records for each item are saved on computer disk and a catalog printout of each item, with its photograph, is placed in binders for preservation in the Vault. Sandi and her committee’s impressive work will eventually be able to be seen online once these records are uploaded into the society’s computer system, Past Perfect.
The dress was worn by Mrs Harriet (Reed) Strout in 1922 to a “As You Like It “ club meeting featuring an antique dress party of its members.
We can’t thank enough our wonderful volunteers who have worked for the past 10 years so this collection can be recorded and photographed and preserved.
They, as well as the clothing collection, are a Treasure from the Vault. Thank You!
There is an excellent article that appears in the THS newsletter “Harbor View Summer-2021”. The article “A Few Hats of interest in our Collection” was written by the Clothing Collection Committee.
The article focuses on a top hat from 1850-1870 and a militia hat c. 1840.
This article and other THS newsletters are available to read online at <townsendhistoricalsociety.org>. Search under ‘Stories and News – Newsletter Archive’ – ‘Summer-2021’