Wedding dresses before the twentieth century were typiaclly the woman's best dress. As far as the group of brown dresses, that does seem unusual, and may be a particular trend if they all date from the same 5-10 year period or they it may be a tradition of that particular culture. The Atlanta History Center does have a wedding dress of a very wealthy lady that is brown silk also, so it is not completely un seen. I would recommend looking in fashion magazines of the time to find out more about whether it was a national trend or a local one. There were several national publications at the time, including Petersons and Godey's. You may be able to find some in libraries or Larger museums with costume collections. Elizabeth Walton www.clotheslinejournal.com -------Original Message------- From: Candace Perry <[log in to unmask]> Sent: 08/05/03 12:20 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: brown wedding gowns > > I am curator of a small history museum that interprets the heritage of a small PA German Protestant group, and I have noticed an interesting (at least to me!) phenomenon regarding the wedding gowns of the group members in the late 19th century. We have at least 4 rather similar BROWN dresses from the 1880s-90s. They are typical in style for that time period, they are silk with various trims. I am aware that the white wedding is a 20th century thing, more or less, but I've never run into so many similar dresses from different brides from this time period. Makes for a pretty dull wedding exhibit!!! I am trying to determine if this was another peculiarity of this group, or actually might have been fashionable for brides to wear brown in that time period. Can't say I've run into it in other collections. A bit of background -- the group (the Schwenkfelders) were conservative and modest but not "plain" and they were members of rural communities, for the most part. Looking forward to any input, Candace Perry Schwenfelder Library & Heritage Center ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). > ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).