‘A Wonderful Little Discovery’—

Scrapbook Piques New Curator’s Curiosity

By Nancy K. Crevier

Mary Thomas has been busy filling the “very big shoes of Caroline Stokes’,” as she put it one day in late October. Ms Thomas was named curator of the C.H. Booth Library this past July, a position held for more than 19 years by Ms Stokes, who retired this summer. Prior to becoming curator, Ms Thomas had served 19 years on the C.H. Booth Library Board of Trustees.

The curators job, explained Ms Thomas, is to track, maintain, and preserve the many collections owned by the library, including furniture, permanent art work, and the many display items that include those in the re-created Mary Hawley dining room on the third floor.

“Part of the library’s job is to preserve what we have,” said Ms Thomas, “so I have been cataloguing our many acquisitions, and trying to get into every corner to see what we own. Caroline did a terrific job, but there is always more that needs to be catalogued.”

The curator also makes sure that all collections are properly stored, so that fragile items do not deteriorate or become damaged by time and exposure to light or moisture.

It was while poking about the C.H. Booth Library attic this summer that Ms Thomas came across a scrapbook that excited her. Inside the hand-sewn, calico covered scrapbook were original photographs taken H N. Tiemann, Sr of Newtown of a 1934 old-fashioned costume show at the library. The scrapbook was put together by the Historical Study Group, according to a hand-lettered paper attached to the front inside cover.

“I have a great interest in fashion,” said Ms Thomas, a home economics major who taught at the Newtown High School Child Development Nurtury from 1965 to 2006. “I do a lot of sewing, as well, and treasure old embroideries and collect them. I also own a collection of vintage 20th Century dresses,” she said.

She realized quickly that many of the late 18th and early 19th Century costumes that had been modeled in the 1934 show by local women were packed away in boxes in the attic, along with several other examples of 19th and early 20th Century fashions.

“What is wonderful about this scrapbook, and the costumes, is that it shows the refinements of those days. It’s remarkable to see these costumes from Newtown when it was mainly a farming community. It gives us a look back into how people here lived,” she said, “and the effort they put into preserving the garments, some of which were worn by successive generations.”

Most of the dresses and outfits were for special occasions, she said, and are made of silk, taffeta, lace, and velvet.

Many of the dresses, and other items stored in the library attic, were still in need of proper storing, said Ms Thomas. With funds donated by the Gala Committee from the library’s 75th anniversary celebration in 2007, she has been able to purchase archival boxes and acid-free tissue paper to store those costumes and other delicate items.

The scrapbook contains names that are familiar, another exciting piece of this summer’s discovery, said Ms Thomas. Not only were the gowns from well-known historic Newtown families like the Warners, Smiths, Glovers, Beers, and Beardsleys, but members of historic Newtown families modeled them. Reba Stickles, Emily Leahy, and Etta Martin are just a few of those models whose surnames are a familiar part of Newtown history.

“I have decided to start with this costume collection, and put together a public display of the antique outfits,” Ms Thomas said. The display, which she hopes to have up at the library by early 2010, will offer the community a brief period of time to view the scrapbook and the costumes. Because of the fragile nature of the dresses, the display will have to be for a limited time only, said Ms Thomas.

Included in the display will be examples from the 1934 fashion show, other antique clothing donated to the library, and some of Ms Thomas’ own vintage clothing collection.

“It’s a wonderful little discovery,” said Ms Thomas.