Silk Dress Made by Rebecca Cram, 1853

Silk Dress Made by Rebecca Cram, 1853

Luckily and most unusually, we know the name of the maker of this dress. Rebecca was highly skilled: she cleverly cut and padded the bodice to minimize the appearance of her customer’s apparent curvature of the spine. Like many dressmakers, Rebecca was not listed in the census as such; her business would have relied on word of mouth among her neighbors.

Made for Sarah Ann Gault, Pembroke, New Hampshire. Silk with cotton lining and wadding, steel boning. Gift of Augusta Rand 3213