This 1940 wedding trousseau was recently donated to Strawbery Banke Museum by long time New Hampshire family, Kathy Scannell of Portsmouth, NH and her sister, Carol Provost of Merrimack, NH. The gloves, handmade magenta robe, wedding dress and shoes were part of the wedding ensemble worn by Edith Mary (Cronchaw) Casey. Miss. Cronchaw married Frances Casey on June 17th, 1940 after 19 years of dating. The extended period of courtship may explain the quality of the desinger made gown, veil and shoes as the couple was well-established prior to marriage. The donation also includes veil, stockings, slip, the wedding portraits, invitation, a collection of peach sleepwear, along with cards over the years from Francis to Edith.
The shoes are in very good condition (note the quality of the silk, the heart shaped buckle, heel proportion and delicate strap) as is the sleepwear and magenta robe. While the dress has suffered in large part due to unstable man-made fibers, the gift is of considerable importance given the intactness and completeness of the trousseau and suppporting materials.
Kimberly Alexander, Ph.D., with Bridget Swift, Collections Intern
Chief Curator
Strawbery Banke Museum
7/29/10
Photography, Bridget Swift
This is so cool! How neat that you were able to get so much from one person! Keep up the good work. -trish
ReplyDeleteThanks, Trish. We will be blogging about other items in the trousseau shortly. Glad you found us
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