28 June 1860: Hoop Skirts For the Ladies

On this day in 1860, the Grady, Nicholson, & Company general store advertised their new shipment of hoop skirts in the weekly Southern Banner:

The wide, bell-shaped hoop skirt, such as the ones featured in Gone with the Wind, was popularized in the mid-1850s by Empress Eugenie of France, the wife of Emperor Napolean III. The first ad for hoop skirts in the Athens newspapers appeared in 1857. 

The hoops were constructed with circles of cotton-covered steel wire held together with strips of tape that ran the length of the hoop, from waist to floor. The hoops were collapsible, but also broke easily. 


This method of creating a full, round skirt was lighter and cooler than the layers of petticoats previously required, though women of this period still wore multiple layers of clothing (chemise, stockings, corset, drawers, shirt, hoops, dress, gloves and bonnet) on a regular basis, regardless of the weather. 


After the Civil War, the large skirts went out of style quickly, much to the relief of historian and parliamentarian Justin McCarthy, who, in his book Portraits of the Sixties, wrote of hoop skirts that 

Its inconvenience was felt by the male population as well as by the ladies who sported the obnoxious construction. A woman getting out of a carriage, an omnibus, or a train, making her way through a crowded room, or entering into the stalls of a theatre, was a positive nuisance to all with whom she had to struggle for passage.

Others looked back just a generation later and remembered sidewalks "practically monopolized by moving monstrosities," noting that "then no lady was correctly attired according to the prevailing idea who did not present a spectacle curiously suggestive of a moving circus tent." 




Learn More:

• Southern Banner, March 11, 1858 - Jul. 1862 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• History of American Costume, 1607-1870 by Elisabeth McClellan in the Reference collection.
• Portraits of the Sixties by Justin McCarthy via PINES.
• The Arena (No. XXII, September, 1891) via Project Gutenberg.
• Women's Clothing at 1860 page on the Memorial  Hall Museum Online website.
• Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900 by Joan L. Severa in the Heritage collection.
• Athens, Georgia: A Pictorial History, 1801-2001 by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Culture of Fashion: A New History of Fashionable Dress by Christopher Breward in the general collection.
• Eugenie and Napolean III by David Duff in the biography collection.
• Everyday Dress, 1650-1900 by Elizabeth Ewing in the general collection.
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Costume and Fashion, 1550-1920 by Jack Cassin-Scott in the general collection.
• The Circus Comes Home: When the Greatest Show on Earth Rode the Rails by Lois Duncan in the children's collection.

7 May 1922: Glove Etiquette for the "Well Bred"

On this day in 1922, the Society column in the Athens Banner featured this bit of etiquette information as part of their other items about bridge socials and engagement parties:

Good to know!


Learn More:

• Athens Banner on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Decorum by Kim Izzo and Ceri Marsh in the general collection. 
• Rising to the Occasion: A Practical Companion for the Occasionally Perplexed by Edith Hazard and Wallace Pinfold in the general collection.
• Multicultural Manners: New Rules for Etiquette in a Changing Society by Norine Dresser in the general collection.
• United States Protocol: The Guide to Official Diplomatic Etiquette by Mary Mel French in the general collection.
•  Emily Post's Etiquette by Peggy Post in the Reference collection.
• Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners by Laura Claridge in the biography collection.

7 June 1908: "For June Weddings"

On this day in 1908, the following ad was the front page of the Sunday Athens Banner:

(click to enlarge image)

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1908 - Dec. 1908 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• You Are Cordially Invited to Weddings: Dating and Love Customs of Cultures Worldwide by Carolyn Mordecai in the general collection.
• Vintage Weddings: Resource and Guidebook, 1910s-1950s by Daniela Turudich in the general collection.
• How to Buy Your Perfect Wedding Dress by Ronald Rothstein in the general collection.
• Vera Wang on Weddings by Vera Wang in the general collection.
• Emily Post's Wedding Planner for Moms by Peggy Post in the general collection.
• Mother of the Groom: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy the Best Wedding Ever by Sharon Naylor in the general collection.
• Pretty Weddings for Practically Pennies by Catherine Yarnovich Risling in the general collection.
• The Elegant Wedding and the Budget-Saving Bride by Deborah McCoy in the general collection.
• Miss Manners Guide to a Surprisingly Dignified Wedding by Judith Martin in the New Books collection.
• Get Married Without a Hitch by Lisa Helmanis in the general collection.
• The Wedding Guide for the Grown Up Bride by Shelley Christiansen in the general collection.
• The Engaged Groom: You're Getting Married, Read This Book by Doug Gordon in the general collection.
• E-Plan Your Wedding: How to Save Time and Money with Today's Best Online Resources by Crystal Melendez and Jason Melendez in the general collection.
• The Green Bride Guide: How to Create an Earth-Friendly Wedding on Any Budget by Kate L. Harrison in the general collection.
• How to Plan an Elegant Second Wedding by Julie Weingarden Dubin in the general collection.
• The Anti-Bride Etiquette Guide: The Rules and How to Break Them by Carolyn Gerin in the general collection.
• Let's Elope: The Definitive Guide to Eloping, Destination Weddings, and Other Creative Wedding Options by Scott Shaw and Lynn Beahan in the general collection.
• A More Perfect Union: How I Survived the Happiest Day of My Life by Hana Schank in the general collection.

4 April 1916: "No Other Garment Has So Much Power"

On this day in 1916, the W. T. Collins & Company clothing store, located at 335 E. Clayton Street, ran this ad to alert female Athenians to the arrival of a professional corsetiere the following Monday:

Sport corsets were first developed in Paris in 1898, and originally were cut high on the sides so a woman could sit to ride a horse without difficulty. The pressure of the corset was moved from the abdomen to the back, and encouraged a straighter posture and easier movement, allowing women to be more active than the tighter, more restrictive Victorian corsets of the 19th century. The new designs were called either "health" or "sport" corsets.

These 1916 styles advertised in the Athens Banner were heavily reinforced with elastic bands along the hips, allowing for easy sitting and movement but still providing a foundation for the straight, stylish skirts of the period. Their $3.00 price tag is approximately $60.50 in today's dollars. Many corsets after 1917 removed all metal boning due to metal shortages from the war, and most women found the new corsets to be both patriotic and far more comfortable.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Mar. 1916 - May 1916 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Unmentionables: 250 Years of Underwear, 1720-1970 online exhibit for the Museum of Vancouver.
• Lingere in Vogue Since 1910 by Christina Probert in the general collection.
• Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations that Have Made Us Beautiful by Teresa Riordan in the general collection.
• Imaging American Women: Idea and Ideals in Cultural History by Martha Banta in the general collection.
• The Costume Collector's Companion, 1890-1990 by Rosemary Hawthorne in the general collection.
• Knitting Lingere Style: 32 Basic and Lingere-Inspired Designs by Joan McGowan-Michael in the general collection.
• Women's Health and Fitness: A Take-Charge Plan for Lifetime Well-Being by Prevention magazine in the general collection.
• For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts' Advice to Women by Barbara Ehrenreich in the general collection.
• 1916 Sears, Roebuck, & Company catalog in Ancestry Library Edition via GALILEO.
• Underwear! by Mary Elise Monsell in the children's fiction collection.

2 January 1910: A New Year's Message from Michael Brothers

On this day in1910, the Michael Brothers department store ran the following message, covering two-thirds of the top half of the front page of the Sunday Athens Banner newspaper:

To the left of this text, appeared an illustration of the departing year and baby 1910:

 

Beneath this image was the following New Year wish, focusing on three of the main economic engines of Athens at the time: farming, textiles, and education.

For the upbuilding of Athens;
For the peace, happiness and prosperity of her people;
For the one who sows and the one who reaps;
For the one who spins and the one who weaves;
For the one who teaches and the one who learns;
For every man, woman and child in Athens, in Georgia and in our country we extend cordial greetings and (illegible-page torn) for all.
Happy New Year!

The Banner typically had full-page department store ads on their front page on Sundays. Though the top half of the Banner consisted of well-wishes for the citizens of Athens from a leading local business, the bottom half of the page alerted readers to the "Great Sale of Seasonable Goods," with blankets for $1.20 to $5.00, and women and children's underwear starting at 25 cents, men's union suits starting at 50 cents.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1910 - Jun. 1910 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Living Philosophies: The Reflections of Some Eminent Men and Women of Our Time by Clifton Fadiman in the general collection.
• The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember by Fred Rogers in the general collection.
• The Simple Living Guide: A Soucebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living by Janet Luhrs in the general collection.
• Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or, Failing That, Happiness by Al Franken in the general collection.
• The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt in the general collection.
• Made for Goodness, and Why This Makes All the Difference by Desmond Tutu in the general collection.
• Finding Grace When You Can't Even Find Clean Underwear by Lisa Earle in the general collection.
• When You Are Entitled to New Underwear and Other Major Financial Decisions by Eileen Michaels in the general collection.
• Where Underpants Come From: From Checkout to Cotton Field by Joe Bennett in the general collection.
• Lingerie in Vogue Since 1910 by Christina Probert in the general collection.
• Aliens Love Underpants! by Claire Freedman in the children's fiction collection.

1 December 1910: The M. G. Michael Family of Athens Attends the Selig-Frank Wedding in Atlanta

On this day in 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Moses G. Michael and their daughter, Helen, attended the wedding of Miss Lucille Selig of Atlanta and Mr. Leo Max Frank of Brooklyn, New York.

The wedding was held at the East Georgia Avenue home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig. Rabbi David Marx of Hebrew Benevolent Congregation performed the ceremony before a small gathering of family and close friends. The Athens Banner described the evening as "a pretty event," noting that "the house was artistic with quantities of smilax and vases of pink carnations in all the rooms."

The paper reported that "Miss Michael sang several beautiful selections before the ceremony and was accompanied by Miss Regina Silverman, who also played the wedding march." The two young women also wore pink, with Helen Michael in "a white lingerie gown over pink silk" and Regina Silverman in "a pink chiffon cloth gown over silk, trimmed with lace and black marabou."

Other out-of-town attendants at the wedding included the groom's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Frank of Brooklyn, New York, and the best man, Mr. Milton Rice of Rochester, New York. The paper stated the couple would "spend several weeks at the Piedmont before going north for a wedding trip." They would live with the Seligs upon their return.

Leo and Lucille Frank would be married less than three years when the Atlanta media circus surrounding the murder of Mary Phagan at the National Pencil Factory on Confederate Memorial Day, 1913, would destroy their lives. Though the Atlanta newspapers published any rumor or innuendo that would sell extra editions, the Athens newspapers admonished the Atlanta media for such low behavior and published only the barest of stories about the case as it endured.

Leo Frank was murdered on 17 August 1915 by a mob that was angry his death sentence had been commuted to life in prison by Georgia Governor John Slaton. His body was returned to New York, where he was buried at New Mount Carmel Cemetery. Lucille Frank never remarried, and always signed her name as "Mrs. Leo M. Frank," until her death at age 69. Even then, in 1957, her family was unsure of burying her in Atlanta, and it wasn't for another 45 years, in 2002, that nephews buried her ashes between her parents' graves in Oakland Cemetery, but without a marker.

The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles pardoned Leo Frank in 1986, based on the 1982 testimony of then-83-year-old Alonzo Mann, who had been a 14-year-old office boy in the National Pencil Factory in 1913. Mann had seen janitor Jim Conley carrying Phagan's body on the day of the murder. Conley threatened to kill him if he told, and Mann's mother told him to keep quiet. Over the years, Mann repeatedly tried to tell the story, but it wasn't until 1982 that a reporter from the Tennesseean took him seriously enough to publish his eye witness account, and give him a lie detector test, which he easily passed. Members of the Phagan family still believe Leo Frank was the murderer.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jul. 1910 - Dec. 1910 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Banner, Feb. 1913 - Jun. 1913 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive via the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Leo Frank Case by Leonard Dinnerstein in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Silent and the Damned: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank by Robert Seitz Frey in the general collection.
• Screening a Lynching: The Leo Frank Case on Film and Television by Matthew Bernstein in the general collection.
• Parade: The Original Broadway Cast Recording in the CD collection.
• Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America by Allen James  in the Heritage and general collections.
• On Lynchings by Ida B. Wells-Barnett in the general collection.
• The People v. Leo Frank: A Georgia Roundtable on the Georgia Public Broadcasting website.
• The Temple Bombing by Melissa Faye Greene in the general collection.
• The Nature of Prejudice by Gordon W. Allport in the general collection.
• Atlanta newspapers on Footnote Library Edition in GALILEO (call 706-613-3650 for current password)
• Images of the people and documents associated with the trial on the GPB Georgia Stories website.
  

17 November 1900: Turkeys in Finery Make the Point

On this day (and for most of November) in 1900, Athens Steam Laundry ran this eye-catching advertisement in the Athens Daily Banner:

 Men's cuffs and collars were separate from their shirts, so they could be laundered more often. They were often starched to remain rigid even when being worn on hot days or in warm rooms. Taking them to a professional laundry was not too different than a trip to the dry cleaner today.

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, Jul. 1900 - Dec. 1900 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Off the Cuff: The Essential Style Guide for Men and the Women Who Love Them by Carson Kressley in the general collection.
• Esquire's Encyclopedia of  20th Century Men's Fashions by O. E. Shoeffler in the general collection.
• Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American History by Diana Karter Appelbaum in the general collection.
• Thanksgiving Turkeys by Patrick Merrick in the children's collection.
• Thanksgiving 101: Celebrate America's Favorite Holiday with America's Thanksgiving Expert by Rick Rodgers in the general collection.
• The Thanksgiving Cookbook by Holly Garrison in the general collection.
• Menswear at the Turn of the Century page on The Costumer's Manifesto website.

14 November 1894: "Ladies Fancy Goods Generally"

On this day in 1894, the following advertisement ran on page 3, column 7, of the Athens Daily Banner:

The ad was apparently for the business of Mrs. Addie Sisson Adams, the widow of Thomas A. Adams, who died during the Civil War leaving her with a young son to raise. Mrs. Adams was originally in business with her widowed sister, Eva Williamson, as indicated by this advertisement they purchased in the 1889 Athens City Directory:

Millinery, the creation and decoration of hats, was one of the few professions deemed appropriate for the single, middle class woman in the 19th century. Women who opened millinery boutiques were often widowed or orphaned, and in need of a form of independent support at a time when the primary economic support system for women was a reliable husband. It was also an area of entrepreneurship; in 1913, the trade magazine The Milliner proclaimed, "It offers women an independence."

Milliner establishments were sometimes referred to (by men) as "fripperies," since they were often the only retail location where a woman could purchase such notions as beads, pearl buttons, ribbons, feathers, flowers, fine laces, and quality silks for fancier gowns. Some milliners expanded their offerings to dressmaking, but Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Williamson were able to stay in business simply by providing hats in an era when elaborately decorated headwear was in vogue. Feathers from birds such as ospreys, egrets, and the now-extinct Carolina Parakeet were in such high demand that the National Audubon Society was formed specifically to lobby for legislation to protect them.

Millinery as a viable profession began to decline with the rise of the department store and the decline in customized hats as fashion in the 20th century. Mrs. Williamson died "after a lingering illness" in early 1900 at the home she shared with her sister on Oconee Street. Mrs. Adams had buried her son a few years earlier, and the 1900 U.S. census shows her occupation, at 74, as "milliner." Mrs. Adams lived until 1912, and is buried with her family in Oconee Hill Cemetery.

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, Nov. 1894 - Nov. 3, 1898 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• 1889 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• HeritageQuest Census records in GALILEO. (call 706-613-3650, ext. 350 for current password)
• Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900 by Joan L. Severa in the Heritage collection.
• A History of Private Life, Volume IV: From the Fires of Revolution to the Great War, edited by Michelle Perrot in the general collection.
• Victorian Fashions and Costumes from Harper's Bazaar, 1867-1898 by Stella Blum in the general collection.
• Sixty Years of Fashion, 1900-1960: The Evolution of Women's Styles in America by Alice Lessing in the general collection.
• A History of Costume by Karl Kohler in the general collection.
• Women's Hats of the Twentieth Century for Designers and Collectors by Maureen E. Lynn Reilly in the general collection.
• Hat Tricks: 80 Instant Makeovers That Transform Ordinary Hats into Fabulous Creations by Terence Terry in the general collection.
• Hats Off to Hats by Sara Corbett in the children's collection.
• The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss in the children's fiction collection.

19 October 1916: Dress Patterns from the Newspaper, Only 10 Cents

On this day in 1916, the Athens Daily Herald ran this ad for one of their many patterns for women's and children's clothing on page 7, column 6, at the top of the page:

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Herald, Jun. 1916 - Dec. 1918 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Sewing the New Classics Clothes with Easy Style by Carol Parks in the general collection.
• I Wanna Make My Own Clothes by Clea Hantman in the children's collection.
• Sewing Basics by Wendy Gardiner in the general collection.
• Sewing Techniques and Patterns by Marie-Noelle Bayard in the general collection.
• Vogue Fitting: The Book of Fitting Techniques, Adjustments, and Alterations in the general collection.
• The Pattern Companion: Sewing by Cassandra Case in the general collection.
• Sew Subversive: Down & Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista by Melissa Rannels in the general collection.