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RESEARCH FILES Extant Outdoor Garments in Oregon, 1880 to 1920 Historic Research Using Objects from Oregon’s Historical Institutions by Jennifer M. Mower and Elaine L. Pedersen GARMENTS, long overlooked by many and society.3 Extant outdoor garments scholars of history, are capable of pro- analyzed for this study provide tangible viding information about social and evidence of the ways Oregon women personal history that often cannot be adapted to a developing consumer- found among other historical sources. oriented middle class and to new Clothing is “an expressive medium” — modes of transportation and com- a means of communicating cultural merce. values and norms as well as economic Oregon museums contain numer- and social status. Extant garments — ous garments that were owned and a particular type of material culture likely worn by Oregonians as early as that has been preserved for study and the 88s and extending through the display — contain stories that reveal twentieth century. Such artifacts are clues about people and their behaviors. valuable resources for those who study Amy Smart Martin, a historian of early local and regional history, particularly American culture, explains: when they are documented to a par- ticular locale and time period (that is, Material objects matter because they are complex, symbolic bundles of social, cultural have clear provenance). An analysis of and individual meanings fused onto some- ninety-eight extant garments from the thing we can touch, see and own. That very 88s to 2s suggests lifestyle trends quality is the reason that social values can so in Oregon and provides a case study quickly penetrate into and evaporate out of of the usefulness of examining extant common objects.2 garments. There are several approaches The study of clothing, like all objects, to artifact analysis, all of which enable gives us insight on consumer culture scholars to draw forth “evidence of atti- OHQ vol. 115, no. 2 © 24 Oregon Historical Society Benton County Historical Society County Historical Benton In about 1895, five ladies gather on a bridge in Corvallis, Oregon, dressed in fashionable puffy sleeves, waist-length capes, and fitted jackets — the latest outdoor garment styles. Women often chose sleeveless outdoor garments during that time period to avoid squashing large dress sleeves. tudes, belief systems, and assumptions” (see p. 2).5 According to donor of a specific time and place.4 Although records, the coat was donated to the provenance was not available for all the Oregon Historical Society in 68 by garments analyzed for this study, com- Virginia Lee Richardson; donor files paring the garments to each other and state that the coat belonged to Vir- to what is known about fashionable ginia’s mother, whose name according garments of the period using written to research via Ancestry.com, was Mrs. historical records and publications Thomas Richardson.6 Clothing histori- allowed us to build a picture of the ans generally assume that garments that women who wore them. are saved hold meaning for wearers and One Oregon outdoor garment for their descendants. Knowing this and which provenance is available is an that Richardson’s children were born ankle-length, black coat with black jet around the time the coat was made and and cord trim. It was made for and worn, we speculate that she had fond worn to the third annual Portland Hunt memories of the garment or the event Club Horse Show held in October . where it was worn. Because the coat was The coat is similar to coat styles pic- made for a specific event, Richardson tured in the Oregonian on October , may have been a Portland Hunt Club Mower and Pedersen, Extant Outdoor Garments in Oregon, 88 to 2 68 “exhibition of historic costumes, accessories, jewelry, and furnishings, organized to celebrate the Art Associa- tion’s diamond jubilee.”8 LIFE IN OREGON from the 88s to 2s was defined by increased development that connected parts of the state to each other and to places beyond. The state contained urban areas in the Willamette Valley west of the Cascade Mountains and rural OHS Museum OHS Museum 68 - 526 . In this 1909 Oregonian advertisement titled “Dainty Summer Frocks Give Way to Heavy Fall and Winter Wear,” women were informed that “elaborate trimming of fancy braids characterizes stylish suits displayed in Portland stores.” volunteer — a common occupation of middle-class, early twentieth-century women in the region. This connection further illustrates the sociocultural value of the garment.7 Richardson died in 4, and the coat was donated to the Oregon Historical Society in 68. The wearer’s daughter most likely kept This ankle-length black riding coat was the garment for those twenty years as worn by Mrs. Thomas Richardson at the a reminder of her mother. The coat 1909 Portland Hunt Club Horse Show. may have been donated specifically The coat is similar to those shown in an to be displayed in Portland’s Jubilee, a Oregonian ad from that same year. 2 OHQ vol. 115, no. 2 areas to the east. The establishment in women’s outdoor garments from of a north-to-south railroad route 88 to 2, which show an increasing in the Willamette Valley in 87, the cosmopolitan culture that developed Northern Pacific Rail in 883, and the in the American West in the late nine- Oregon Short Line in 884, provided teenth and early twentieth centuries. transcontinental links to Portland Women living outside Portland and advanced development of a com- used local stores or seamstresses, pur- mercial economy in western Oregon. chased goods from catalogues, or made Railroads provided faster and more their own clothing.6 In 2, Eugene, reliable transportation to national Oregon, resident Florence Marquiss and international markets than had wrote in her diary about making shirt horse-drawn methods. By , 56 waists, skirts, an apron, a “wrapper,” percent of the state’s population lived and collars. On August 6, 2, she in the Willamette Valley, a majority documented buying “velvet and stuff that increased to 62 percent by . for my jacket,” and about a week later The lack of infrastructure, particularly she explained that “Miss Ames started transportation, influenced the num- my jacket.” Marquiss also purchased ber of people who settled in eastern goods from far away retailers or manu- Oregon. In , the population east facturers, as indicated in her diary on of the Cascades was just 25 percent August 2, 2: “Got my corset from of the state’s total, and by , the the east and it was a dandy.”7 Smaller population decreased to 2 percent. local merchants operated as they had Where completed railroads existed, before the railroads, importing supplies consumers could have goods delivered from larger cities such as San Francisco, from mail-order supply companies in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York.8 Chicago and other cities further east.2 The railroad enabled retailers to acquire Stores in Portland, such as Meier & new merchandise faster and in greater Frank department store, brought in quantities than had been possible merchandise not just from the eastern before. In the Willamette Valley, apparel United States but also from European from “the East and San Francisco” was cities.3 As historian Cynthia Culver advertised by S. Friedman’s, a store in Prescott explains, those transportation Salem, and merchandise from New and economic developments linked York and San Francisco was sold at the individuals in the Willamette Valley Pioneer Store in Independence, a small to the “national consumer culture that town west of Salem. carried with it new expectations for Although transportation of goods men’s and women’s behavior.”4 Mass- was faster and easier in the Willamette production of food, fabric, and other Valley, eastern Oregon merchants also goods that had to be produced indi- managed to stock fashions from big vidually before the s gave women cities. M. Weil & Co. in Baker City, for the opportunity to pursue social and example, advertised items from New political activities outside the home.5 York manufacturers, and clothing from That substantial social shift is reflected San Francisco was sold by R. Alexander Mower and Pedersen, Extant Outdoor Garments in Oregon, 88 to 2 3 & Co. in Pendleton. Eastern Oregon culture, shifts in media influences, railroad spur construction south of and increasing lifestyle changes for the east-west transcontinental line women.24 Those forty years repre- began in the 88s but reached only a sent the time in Oregon when town small part of the region.2 Goods and development and commerce became individuals throughout most of the well established.25 Styles of the period region travelled via a combination of were therefore informed by a transi- rail, coach, and freight wagons. Trans- tion away from home production and portation from Portland to an eastern toward regular purchases of ready- Oregon town might take two or three made garments from retailers ranging days, with several additional days from local general stores to depart- required to reach individuals in rural ment stores and mail-order compa- areas. Mail or freight from Portland nies. During that period, there was also sometimes took longer to arrive. Towns a general increase in the prevalence of in eastern Oregon waited until the early mass media, due to improvements and s for railroad access, and some advances in technology that influenced towns never had access to a railroad.2 consumers’ ideas about current styles. Rural free mail delivery, which came More consumers read newspapers and to some areas of the Willamette Valley magazines, which contained images of as early as 87, was available in only fashionable dress. In addition to local a small area of northeastern Oregon social groups (such as friends, church between 8 and 4.22 For the vast groups, social clubs and events), film, majority of individuals living away advertising, and retailer’s visual mer- from towns, it was necessary to travel, chandising strategies began to influ- or have friends and neighbors travel, ence purchasing decisions.26 to the post office to receive mail.

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