I volunteer at our local historical site, which houses (among other things) a vast collection of 19th century underwear. Today we cleaned and packed a stack of circa 1845 ladies' shifts, all with a single button closure at the neck.
The shifts were all marked with a stamped (not embroidered) monogram to facilitate laundry sorting, and always on the closure side of the shift. The monogram was never meant to be decorative. We worked under the assumption that these shifts were worn with the closure on the front, but then I had an epiphany... 1. One of the shifts had a stain of the sort that is commonly found on the back of ladies' underwear. On the closure side. 2. Why would a marking (stamped monogram) meant only to label a garment be put on the front? Wouldn't it be put on the back? -- they were all on the closure side. I am now tasked with finding the answer. Any thoughts? -Dede O'Hair _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
