Textiles and Social History

The Textiles and Social History Collection is an intimate record of the daily lives of Atlanta residents, from the city’s earliest days as Terminus to the present. Selected textiles are featured in signature exhibitions in the Atlanta History Museum. Costume history, quilts, and other topics are periodically explored in depth through collection-based temporary exhibitions.

The 10,000-piece textiles collection includes both everyday and special-occasion clothing, personal accessories, furnishing textiles, and other objects that represent Atlanta and the Southeast during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Within this broad range of artifacts are a variety of domestic textiles, including quilts, coverlets, samplers, bedspreads, rugs, and table linens. Textile production and care equipment is represented by spinning wheels, looms, washing machines, irons, and sewing patterns. Personal clothing includes garments for men, women, and children, and range from home-sewn clothes and civilian uniforms to designer fashions. Personal accessories include undergarments, shoes, hats, handbags, jewelry, spectacles, and luggage.

A collection of hand-woven textiles by Mary Crovatt Hambidge and her production collective, the Weavers of Rabun, is a highlight of the History Center’s textile holdings. In addition to Hambidge’s personal wardrobe, the collection contains yardage, fabric swatches, scarves, and other accessories in silk and wool produced by the North Georgia weavers.

The Atlanta History Center offers Peachtree Mercantile sewing patterns based on original garments in the collection. With true-to-history patterns, anyone can recreate the past with an authentic reproduction of a Civil War-era dress or overcoat. For more information, please contact our Museum Shop via phone, 404.814.4075 or email.

Checkerboard Quilt (1975.212.M2) Cotton quilt, pieced in a checkerboard of prints and solid color blocks, Jackson Hill, Georgia, ca.1865. According to family legend, this quilt was made near Milledgeville, Georgia, by one or more slaves for Mrs. Green Hill Jordan, the wife of the plantation owner. Fine piecing and even stitches testify to the maker’s skills.

Beaded Dress (1981.108.M2): Woman’s evening dress, silk and glass beads, maker unknown, likely from Paris, ca.1925. Despite its straight silhouette, the sheer silk chiffon, floral beadwork, and fluted hem give this dress timeless feminine appeal. In contrast to earlier fashions that exaggerated women’s natural curves, the boyish flapper look of the mid-1920s ostensibly erased them.

Denim Ensemble (2001.17.M1, M2): Woman’s denim jeans and jacket, embroidered and worn by Ann T. Crissey, Tucker, Georgia, ca.1974. From their origins as work pants for laboring men, blue jeans evolved to symbolize youth and counter-culture movements. The first designs on these bell-bottoms covered badly worn areas, but the maker’s preschool children liked them and soon came up with new designs.

Overcoat (1991.46.M193): Man’s civilian-style overcoat, cotton and wool, made by Ann Margaret Magill Smith, and worn by her son Archibald Smith, Jr., Roswell, Georgia, 1864. Surviving wartime letters discuss this overcoat, which Smith asked his family to include in a package for him in October 1864. He wore it while serving with the Georgia Battalion of Cadets.

Hambidge Textiles (1998.233): Handspun and hand woven shawl, scarves, and yarn of hand dyed silk, by Mary Crovatt Hambidge and the Weavers of Rabun, Rabun Gap, Georgia, 1925-1973. In 1934, Hambidge created a place for agriculture and craft in North Georgia. Their fabrics, shawls, neckties, and scarves were sold at Rabun Studios on Madison Avenue in New York.

Evening Coat (1951.10.M20): Woman’s evening coat, velvet with metallic embroidery, Rich’s Specialty Shop, worn by Margaret Mitchell, Atlanta, 1939. Evoking the glamour of Hollywood in its heyday, this coat was suitable for one of Mitchell’s few moments in the public spotlight. Mitchell wore it to one of Atlanta’s memorable events, the premiere of the motion picture

Sewing Patterns (1987.370.M14, M15, M16, M17): Sewing patterns, printed paper, 1925-1943. Today, home economics teaches budgeting for a family more often than cooking or sewing, but in the early twentieth century, many women made clothing at home. These sewing patterns reflect fashion trends along with society’s shifting views of domesticity, propriety, leisure, and war-time thrift.

Rich’s Uniform (1986.30.M1): Woman’s uniform, wool, by Pat Lesser, ca.1945. This serviceable wool dress in Rich’s Department Store’s signature green was the work uniform for female elevator operators. Like much of the support staff, most elevator operators were African American. From World War II forward, women held a host of jobs not open to them before.

Day Dress (1997.43.M1): Woman's day dress, silk, maker unknown, likely from West Point, Georgia, ca.1860. The triple-darted, boned bodice of this brocade dress is an 1850s style, while details like the rosette buttons, called “macaroons

Boy’s Ensemble (1974.135.M3, M4.A): Boy’s velvet jacket and checked trousers, worn by William Patrick Anderson, Jr., Cobb County, Georgia, ca.1854. This ensemble was probably new when Anderson wore it with a frilled white collar and undersleeves for a daguerreotype in 1854. The pants were well-worn by the following year, when he passed away one day before his fifth birthday.

Evening Dress (1987.125.M1.A,B): Woman’s evening dress, cotton and synthetic brocade, by Nat Kaplan, worn by Louise Richardson Allen, Atlanta, 1969. Like her husband, Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr., Louise Allen was a vital force in the city, which honored her civic service by naming her Woman of the Year in 1969. She wore this evening gown to the award ceremony.

Sampler (1972.298.M1): Sampler, silk on linen, by Sarah Ann Ashbee, 1816. As one of the domestic arts, sewing was a vital component of girls' education in the nineteenth century. Like many girls, Ashbee stitched a sampler to showcase her needlework skills. She completed the fine cross-stitch sampler at the age of eight.

Bicycling Ensemble (1955.20.M2.A-C): Woman’s bicycling ensemble, wool and leather, by J.A. Dunn & Co., London, worn by Sarah Frances Grant Slaton, Atlanta, ca.1895. While some female bicycling enthusiasts donned bloomer costumes, many shied away from the controversial trouser style. The heavy leather trim at the skirt of this wool tweed ensemble helped ensure modesty, even on windy days.

Evening Shoes (1981.12.M5.A,B; 1982.267.M1.A,B; 1982.330.M3.A,B): Woman’s evening shoes, Rich’s Department Store, Atlanta, (left to right) handmade black satin pumps, ca.1915; glitter pumps, Johannes, ca.1960; silver t-strap sandals, ca.1930. Of all the items in a contemporary woman’s wardrobe, the one that most often evokes passion is footwear. The contrast of sparkle against black is a glamorous choice for evening.

Man’s Suit (1996.190.M5.A-C): Man’s suit, wool, by DePinna, New York, worn by Julian Carr for his marriage to Anne Coppedge, Atlanta, 1938. In the 1920s and 1930s, grooms often selected dark morning coats, gray striped trousers, and spats for formal weddings, while dark business suits such as this pinstriped model were selected for semiformal and informal ceremonies.

Maternity Dress (1978.200.M1): Woman’s maternity dress, homespun and hand woven cotton, likely made and worn by Mary Catherine Watson Jones, Union County, Georgia, ca.1870. Dressing during pregnancy has challenged generations of women, many of whom found simple solutions well-suited to their needs. The rising waistline at the front of this dress allowed for dramatic change in the wearer’s figure.

Undergarments (1997.279.M57, 1979.3.M2.E): Woman’s undergarments, Model Brassiere, ca.1926; girdle by Flexnit, ca.1935. In keeping with styles of the 1920s that minimized curves and simulated a boyish figure, most early brassieres confined the bust. Likewise, the girdle was developed to control fullness in the hips and thighs, which is reflected by the label of this “sumthin” style by Flexnit.

Cocktail Dress (1991.322.M1): Woman’s cocktail dress, nylon net, by Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, ca.1987. This dress was featured at Fashionata, the annual fall fashion extravaganza created by Sol Kent, the fashion director at Rich’s Department Store for forty-two years. Kent once observed, “If there is an Atlanta look in fashion it is definitely not ‘Southern Belle.’”