History of Object #3 Exercise

Object Exercise #3

            This object exercise dealt with the historical context of the article. I was unfortunately unable to get in contact with Clare to find out about the donor card which I was unable to learn more about during my first meeting with the object due to time constraint.  Yet, I was still able to develop a great of information about the family the dress belonged to as well as the history of the Trousseau dress in the late 19^th century.  Therefore, my object exercise #3 will begin with my exploration of the Creese Family and The Cresse Student Center at Drexel University and will finish with exploration of the 2^nd bustle period which is the period Trousseau dress designed from.

            The donor of my object was Mrs. James Creese who lived in Philadelphia. Mrs. James Creese is the wife of former Drexel University President Mr. James Creese. Therefore I choose to take the subway over to Drexel University because the dress is directly linked to Drexel University. Therefore James Creese was the 6^th university president at Drexel University. James served from as the university president from 1945 to 1963. James had a very extensive educational background; he was born in 1896 in Pittsburg, PA. James ended up attending Princeton University in 1914 and graduated in 1918. While at Princeton University, James focused his studies on humanities and poetry. An important historical note to mention was that while James was at Princeton World War I was occurring and James enlisted in the military and served as a second lieutenant in the artillery division. Following the war James returned to Princeton and completed his Master’s work and graduated with a Master’s degree in 1920. Following his Master’s degree Creese became the president of the American-Scandinavian Foundation where Creese spent most of his time traveling in Sweden. While in Sweden, Creese married a fellow Pennsylvanian native Margaret Villiers Morton in 1925. In 1928 Creese was name Vice-President and Treasurer of Steven’s Institute of Technology in New Jersey.  While the Vice-President at Steven’s Institute Creese focused on developing funding and public relations with the community.

            Following his time at Steven’s Institute Creese became the President at Drexel Institute, which is now known as Drexel University, in 1945. World War II was coming to an end and many colleges and universities begun to see an increase in student attendance. Creese saw the need to immediately update the facilities at Drexel as many universities in the country saw the demand for as well.  Creese desired to develop Drexel into an institute that mimicked MIT however it also offered a strong humanities department as well, which I am sure was influenced by his humanities background from Princeton. Creese served as the president from 1945 to 1963. While as president Creese expanded the undergraduate studies at Drexel and encouraged female enrollment to the University.   Creese also offered an evening school at Drexel University which allowed many working individuals to complete a degree and take advantage of the education surge that was occurring in the United States. Creese was popular among the students at Drexel because many students believed that Creese made many positive contributions and developments to Drexel that were geared to improve the experience and life of the students at Drexel University. The picture above is Creese at the ceremony of the student center being built on Drexel’s campus. An interesting connection that I found between Creese and I was that from 1956-1959 Creese was a member of the Board of Trustee of the Baldwin School. I attended the Baldwin school from Kindergarten through 5^th grade. The Baldwin School is an elite private school for girls and is well known in the area. This supports Creese efforts that he made while at Drexel with promoting and encouraging education for females.

            I believe that my Trousseau dress would either worn by either James or Margaret mother. The timeline of the dress and age of James would suggest and support the thought that the dress was worn by either one of their parents. The dress was donated in 1957 and was dated to be from 1888. With the dress being dated back to 1888, means that the dress is from the 3^rd and final Bustle period. The third bustle period used wiring, padding, or a combination of both to emphasis the posterior of the woman. The first bustle period emphasized extremely large padding on the posterior, the 2^nd bustle period went in the opposite direction and was more tightly fitted on the women’s hips and had little padding on the back side, and the third and final bustle period had the posterior padding yet it was not as extreme and wide.  My Trousseau dress accurately describes and fights the description of the third bustle period, which is another clue supporting that this dress was worn by either James or Margaret’s mother.  On the posterior side of the dress there is a beautiful silk cream ribbon as well as fabric that are meant to be filled in with the posterior padding that would be placed in the women’s underskirt.

            From my research I have learned that a Trousseau dress was purchased and used as a honeymoon and newlywed out. The dress was a status symbol to show society that the young women just married and is now settling into their new place. Research stated that it was normal for the young women to wear their Trousseau dress during their first hosting event in their new home. The Trousseau dress that I was assigned to was a high end dress, which was represented by the large amount of manufactured lace and silk that was present on the dress. The dress also had a ribbon label on the inside of the top of the dress with the designer’s name on “Mme. Barbelet, Paris”.   I researched the Mme. Barbelet however I was unable to find any information on the designer, which leads me to believe that this was not a mass produce dress. The female that bought this dress traveled to Paris and had the dress made specifically for her, which reflects that the woman belonged to a very affluent family.

            My final important aspect of the dress is that the Trousseau dress I have been assigned was one that would have been worn in the afternoon. As we learned from Perrot, the way women dress differed throughout the day. It was considered to be inappropriate if a woman was showing cleavage and her arm during the morning portion of the day. As the day would continue it was acceptable for women to have the cut of their dress begin to get lower and reveal more cleavage and are allowed to shorten their sleeves and show more of their forearm. The top front of my dress has a cut of a V and revealed more cleavage of the woman. Also the sleeves of the dress were ¾ sleeves and had lace attached to the bottom of it.

            In conclusion, I am still very excited to have my Trousseau dress. I am still looking forward to read the donor card that came along with my dress. However, with the information that I have found about the Creese family, the family that donated this dress was an important and well-loved educator in the Drexel Family.  Creese was responsible for the development of Drexel post World War II and help Drexel become one of the strongest schools in the Mid-Atlantic region. I believe that the information that I will learn from the donor card will only allow add to the information about the family and will hopefully give me a better idea of the Creese family and which side of the family the dress belonged to.