Kent State University Museum: Centuries of Childhood

Exhibition

Centuries of Childhood
Alumni Gallery, September 27, 2000 to September 31, 2001
Anne Bissonnette, Curator

Children's garments from the second quarter of 19th century

Portrait of Charles and Hyantha Harger
United States of America, Ohio, Canal Dover (now Dover), 1845
Artist unknown, oil paint on bed-ticking.
The frame is original and was made in the nearby Zoar community.
An Ohio native, Charles Harger became a pioneer of the Oregon Territory shortly after the Civil War. Hyantha Harger graduated from Oxford Seminary and, with her sister Martha, ran a private school for girls in Red Wing and St. Paul, Minnesota, and Asheville, North Carolina. She returned to the family home in Dover after her retirement in 1918 and died in 1922.
Collection of the Massillon Museum, gift of the Emma Harger Estate, KSUM L00.14.18

Boy's green wool jacket
Possibly from the United States of America, c.1830-45
Boy's (4-6 years old) bottle green jacket in wool twill lined in beige cotton and trimmed with black velvet ribbon along the collar's edge and over the style lines of the back bodice. Military-style button arrangement with mother-of-pearl incised buttons set in brass at front and white painted glass buttons encased in brass on each cuff.
Kent State University Museum, Silverman-Rodgers Collection, KSUM 1983.1.1888

Child's red printed cotton dress
United States of America, c.1840s
Child's red cotton short-sleeved dress printed with small white zigzag and brown edged tri-lobe motifs. Tucked once at hem. Cartridge pleated at neckline, and above and below waistband on both front and back.
Kent State University Museum, Gift of Mrs. Robert Johnston, KSUM 1986.67.2a

With the development of the mechanized cotton trade in the early part of the 19th century in Europe and America, vast quantities of printed cotton became available at low prices. By the second quarter of the 19th century, roller-printed cottons with small motifs became a staple of woman and children's garments.

Girl's beige silk dress
United States of America, c.1840-49
Silk taffeta dress lined with beige cotton at bodice, sleeves and hem. Bateau neckline and full skirt originally gathered at the waist in cartridge pleats but altered at the side-seams and waist for growth. Trimmed with ivory lace at neckline and short sleeves.
Amber colored glass buttons at back.
Kent State University Museum, The Joel H. and Lucia G. Sharp Collection, KSUM 1984.34.4