Collections Blog

I-0471d Button hook 1900-1950 Materials: Metal, wood Image by Birgit Brånvall, via Wikimedia Commons. An essential household item in the  Victorian era, used on everything from garments to shoes. A button hook was an ideal tool to have on hand [...]

I-0087a Sewing Machine American 1915 Materials: Wood, Metal This object is a Singer Sewing Machine, it was made by the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Singer is an American company, founded by Isaac Merritt Singer and Edward Cabot Clark, that has [...]

I-0407d Vest Swedish 1922 Materials: Cloth/Thread This object is a Swedish women’s vest.  It is part of a traditional costume made in 1922 in County Skane, Sweden.  Costumes like this can still be seen worn by women of Swedish descent [...]

FIC2013.160 Trivia Card Game American Galveston, TX 1907/1908 Material: paper This object is a trivia card game called “Texas Heroes: An Instructive Game,” created by Sally Trueheart Williams in 1908. The cards have three to five questions listed with a [...]

I-0601a Shoes Salvatore Ferragamo Shoes Italian 1960s Materials: Leather, Thread This object is a pair of black and white leather spectator pumps, designed by the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo and owned by Lady Bird Johnson.  They were loaned to the [...]

I-0398d Handbill Womans Pavilion for HemisFair 1968 American ca. 1968 Materials: Paper/Ink This is a brochure from the Woman’s Pavilion for HemisFair ’68 requesting donations. Sister Mary Corita of the Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, California designed the cover. [...]

I-0206c3 Drawing “Mary Crownover Rabb Churning” Michael Waters American 20th century Materials: Paper and ink This object is a pen and ink drawing titled “Mary Crownover Rabb Churning” by Michael Waters. Mary Crownover Rabb wrote one of the first accounts [...]

I-0608a Lithograph “I am Woman” Frank Spivey American 2001 Materials: Paint/Cloth Cathay Williams via Wikimedia Commons This is a lithograph of a painting by Frank Spivey entitled “I am Woman.” It depicts Civil War soldier Cathay Williams, the first documented African-American [...]

I-0574a Women’s exercise shoes American ca. 2001 Material: Rubber or synthetic material, leather Laura Bush There is a saying that  in order to truly understand someone you must first walk a mile in their shoes. This pair of Nike cross training shoes [...]

I-0078a Dress French France 1925 Materials: Pink Chiffon, Crystal, White and Pink Beads It’s a dress, but what kind of dress is it? This item is a pink, two-tiered dress that looks to be a party dress resembling a popular [...]