Historic Clothing Collection

The greater part of the Maine Historical Society historic costume and dress collection consists of middle class women's wear, primarily dresses. There are gaps in representation, but as the examples in the overview make clear from the eighteenth to the late twentieth centuries, Maine's populace kept up with changing styles, and dressed as fashionably as personal taste, lifestyle, and budgets permitted. Beyond women's dresses, and taken as whole, the collection incorporates a considerable quantity and variety of different categories of apparel, of which some are well represented, others less so.

This assortment adds depth, enriches the holdings, thematically, from organizational uniforms to children's wear, and other types of garments. Selections from the respective groups are highlighted in the Themed Image Galleries. As work continues in the overall collection, additional themed image galleries shall be added to this site, in hopes of exploring the collection's wide variety, and sharing new acquisitions. As with any ever-growing collection, work is ongoing and new scholarship emerging.