On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 10:19 AM, Jessica <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Here is Sarah's explanation of the photographs, as posted in response to "museumsolutions":

Hello!

Hey Cass,

I didn’t mean to alarm anyone about the post, the dresses I believe are reproductions in good condition and belonged to a set of costumes that our boss had designated as ones we wore for museum events; they had been worn before for these purposes. Regarding the description, I kind of exaddurated for effect- they were in fact in the attic, not on the mannequins, and upon logging in this morning and finding my post being re-posted and slanderized, I realized I shouldn’t have said that. Its a very small town museum in poor condition and much of the restoration and preservation done that summer regarding garments and other things around the museum had been done by my friend and I as there had been a slew of poor managers/curators who have kind of let things slide. Student summer employees wouldn’t just be given full authority over re-vamping displays and such, to give you an idea of the hap-hazard state of the museum; there are many things in the small museum that have been damaged just by poor insulation and state of the building in terms of moisture (it’s very old), far worse than the dresses. This is to say I understand where you’re coming from in terms of antique preservation, and it saddens me that many of these items have been damaged beyond repair, so we would never have intentionally damage artefacts. As for the reproductions we wore, none of the dresses were damaged and my friend and I were very good museum employees- we would never have taken anything without permission or used actual era gowns for these photoshoot purposes, we too have a love of museums and all things vintage, hence the photos. Please spread the word that these were not damaged so that the photos themselves can be appreciated and my friend and I won’t be given bad names on the tumblr-verse! I have deleted the original but I suppose I can’t prevent the spread of the post and museum buffs hating on me for it so I’m feeling pretty badly! The joys of the internet. Anyway, hope this clears things up, if you have any more questions feel free to ask!

Sarah