The Massachusetts Historical Society has collected family materials since 1791, including long-cherished textiles and garments that arrived alongside letters and diaries. Fashioning the New England Family uses documents and artifacts to illustrate a swath of more than 300 years of history, moving from the 17th century to the early 20th. The text traces patterns of global production and local consumption and reuse, demonstrating how New Englanders used fashion to express class and political affiliations. Patriots and loyalists who are well represented in the Society’s rich holdings—Adamses, Dawses, and Olivers—make many appearances.
Based on the exhibition of the same name presented at the MHS from October 2018 to April 2019, this companion volume features over one hundred full-color photographs of garments, textiles, and accessories, many of which had never been displayed for the public or seen in living memory. Read more about Fashioning the New England Family.
168 pages, 133 color illustrations Distributed by the University of Virginia Press $35 Paperback (2021) ISBN: 978-1-936520-13-8
