Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Wedding Dress
ca. 1900
Maker not marked
USA: Massachusetts, Boston
Silk, metal
a: 26 x 20 x 4 in.; b: 51 x 29 x 3 in.; c: 30 x 10 x 1/2 in.
Gift of Alden M. Perkins
77.8.22a-f

Wedding dress; off-white silk chiffon "India Mull"; a: shirt: lace ruffle around collar and cuffs; corset-like ribs in shirt; eye and hook closures in back; b: skirt; matching skirt with built in train; c: bow with metal hooks for attaching to skirt (possibly); d: sash with worked edging; found inside bag with note that reads "Wedding Sash of Auelive [possibly] Ellen Drew [possibly] when she married Thomas Hills on Sept 6 - 1854"; e: plain ribbon; found inside bag with note that reads "Ribbon- held by cousins of the bride - (Bertha Hills) to form an "aisle" as she came down the stairs and into the parlor of her father's (Thomas Hills) home (at 157 K St) South Boston to marry Harold Hershall [possibly] on Sept 11 1893; f: extra piece of fabric made of same material as dress.

Bertha Hills wore this dress for her 1893 marriage to clergyman Harold Marshall. Her father, a Boston tax assessor, detailed the expenses related to the wedding in his account book. Costs included a dressmaker’s bill for $92.50. Years later, a descendant gave this dress and other clothing worn by the Hills family to the museum. Although everyday clothing wears out, people save special occasion clothing for its associations and because it is too nice for day-to-day wear. For more information, see blog post, April 23, 2009, http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2009/04/remembering-bertha-hills-wedding.html