Margaret Whitehead has worked at Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum in Bristol for 26 years in different capacities, 18 of them as curator. Important projects during that time include the implementation of a digital cataloging program, Past Perfect – a system used nationally by small to medium-size museums. She has also supervised the assembly, conservation, preservation and interpretive exhibit of Blithewold’s significant costume collection consisting of more than 100 dresses dating between 1882 and 1936 worn by the owners of the property.
PBN: Thirty-three of Bessie Van Wickle’s dresses once donated to the Colonial Dames in Boston by Marjorie Van Wickle in 1957 were returned to the Blithewold Mansion collection recently. Now totaling more than 100 dresses once owned by Van Wickle between 1882 and 1936, what does it feel like to see the collection complete again?
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WHITEHEAD: The 33 dresses joined the rest of the original collection that had remained at Blithewold, bringing the total to more than 100 dresses and coats. A program of professional conservation was initiated immediately on the entire collection. As we admire these beautiful gowns, now restored to their former glory, we see how the family used their love of fashion to present their standing in society.
PBN: How does this collection of dresses compare to other preserved wardrobes of similar eras kept at museums across the U.S.?
WHITEHEAD: The Blithewold Costume Collection comprises over 100 dresses belonging to two women, mother and daughter, from 1882 until the mid-1930s. All the garments would have been worn at their home, Blithewold, now a historic house museum. Many of the dresses relate directly to archival material at Blithewold and the histories of these gowns are augmented by letters, photographs and accessories.
PBN: Which events in the Van Wickles’ life can we know more about through the preservation of this collection?
WHITEHEAD: We know, for instance, that the pink chiffon dress on display is the one Marjorie Van Wickle had made in Vienna during her 11-month Grand Tour of Europe in 1903. In preserved documents, she describes the trials of endless fittings and tiresome appointments, but finally acknowledged that “my party dress will be very pretty.” Bessie, Marjorie’s mother, enjoyed a very active social life in the early years of the 20th century, and often described in letters to her sisters the outfits she chose for particular occasions. In the winter season, she attended the opera in Boston, sometimes several times a week, and her elegant opera coat tells us that she was among the “smart set.”
PBN: What measures must volunteers and staff take to preserve such a large collection of fabrics?
WHITEHEAD: Staff and volunteers are trained by professional conservators in how to care for this very important collection. Each piece is kept in its own acid-free box lined and padded with ample acid-free tissue and the room where they are stored is climate controlled for optimum preservation. The exhibit space where they are shown has UV-filtered lighting. Professional condition assessments are made for each of the dresses so that decisions can be made about conservation and stabilization. Blithewold exhibits four or five dresses a year and each one must be sent out for conservation before it can be shown. The dresses all have dedicated support garments, specially made to mirror the garments that would have been worn with that particular gown.
PBN: What do you hope visitors to the mansion take away from those pieces of the costume collection now on display?
WHITEHEAD: Our Costume Collection exhibits have attracted a great deal of attention. Visitors see beautiful gowns, all of very high-quality design, workmanship and materials. With accessories and other pieces from the collection, the exhibit suggests a gentle, gracious way of life enjoyed here in Rhode Island over 100 years ago. Visitors can trace the history of fashion as the collection reflects the changes from one era to the next. We see trains and bustles and whalebone bodices to keep the wearer tall and straight. The current exhibit features a gown from 1903 with train and heavy boning and several layers of fastenings that would have required the assistance of a lady’s maid. In the adjacent case is a party dress that Marjorie wore 30 years later: fashion had evolved such that this dress has no support and no fastenings – it is a loose-fitting slip dress, purchased rather than commissioned.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a PBN stafff writer. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey.
