Interesting how different people respond to different things. My all-time
favorite costuming "stop" was the Museum of the Confederacy. Go figure. I
found the curator VERY accommodating--our scheduled half-hour
behind-the-scenes-down-in-the-archives trip to look at a maximum of three items
turned into a four hour quick and dirty look at every single piece of fabric in
the archives. It all depends on what you are looking for, I guess. My husband
and I are both very interested in military uniforms, which is much of the focus
of course. However, I'm also an avid researcher of the city of Winchester,
Virginia vis a vis the Civil War. One of my favorite diaries from Winchester
was by Cornelia Peake MacDonald. Mrs. MacDonald had a new bronze silk dinner
dress made in anticipation of a scheduled dinner with her husband's commanding
officer, General Stonewall Jackson. Instead, Jackson was wounded at
Chancellorsville and subsequently died of his wounds before the planned dinner
could take place, and Mrs. MacDonald carefully packed away the bronze silk
dress unworn. Finding it on display at the Museum of the Confederacy, along
with Mrs. MacDonald's daughter's beloved doll which she also mentioned in her
diary, was worth the trip for me and brought me to tears because I knew the
story "behind the scenes" as it were. My husband, by contrast, had been
reading a specific soldier's diary on our trip, and was thrilled to find the
man's uniform coat down in the climate controlled storage units.And if you're
looking for "pretty stuff", the Valentine Museum is just down the street from
the Museum of the Confederacy. They have one of the largest collections of
women's historical clothing in the United States. They are also amenable to
scheduled trips into the archives to examine their pieces. And again, we found
the museum curator VERY accommodating, and spent several hours examining any
number of garments over and above the "allowed" number before we adjourned for
an impromptu lunch to discuss historic clothing. One place I haven't heard
anyone mention is a bit off the beaten path. About four years ago, my
girlfriend took me to the University of Rhode Island to see their historic
clothing collection. I found a fabulous variety of women's dresses, outerwear,
bonnets, shoes, accessorites, etc. that was very comprehensive between
1800-1920. Again, we were assigned a graduate student who was very
accommodating and basically turned us and our cameras loose to spend a
wonderful afternoon "playing" in the store room. I couldn't tell you the exact
number of items they have, but I know I burned through two 1 gig memory cards
in the digital camera in short order, and had to go down and get my friend's
digi out of the car.Bottom line: I guess you get out of something what you're
willing to put into it. If you're well-versed and interested in what a
specific museum has on display, you'll probably go home happy. If you don't
have a specific knowledge or interest, you're far more likely to go home
disappointed. A friend just returned from a trip to China. She now regrets
that she didn't learn more about Chinese history and culture BEFORE her trip,
because many of the things she saw had little significance for her without the
background knowledge.One other place I just remembered--if you're interested in
historic military uniforms, an absolute must-see is the Artillery Museum in
Newport, RI. Absolutely wonderful, lots of great things on display, and once
again, tremendously accommodating docents and curator.LuAnn> Date: Sat, 7 Jul
2007 14:31:13 -0700> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [h-cost] your dream
costume trip> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> CC: > > > --- Cin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:> > > > travel the world and see every costume related> > > museum you
could what would you want to see.> > > > I'd prioritize several ways. Places I
havent been:> > > Museum of the Confederacy (Richmond VA)> > > > --cin> >
Cynthia Bar,nes> > I was distinctly unimpressed by the Museum of the>
Confederacy. Costuming-specific, they has a little> lacey knit mitt on
display, which was labelled> crochet.> > Unless crochet now means knit with
holes in?> > The few & far between other clothing items on display> were
largely nothing that impressed me.> > fwiw.> > Ann in CT> p.s., the whole
'roooomance of the glorious South' has> pretty much passed me by; and this was
before I read> the letter about an uncle of mine getting his head> blown off.
ac> > > >
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