Catholic Women's Guild group photo in costume
Item Information
- Title:
- Catholic Women's Guild group photo in costume
- Description:
-
Black-and-white photograph of a group of 13 women dressed in historic period costumes from the turn of the 20th century or earlier. All of the women are standing together in front of a house with a white picket fence and large bushes, except for one woman seated in a rocking chair. The seated woman's face is blurred from movement. One woman known only as Mrs. Harrington is dressed in men's clothing, with a silk top hat, jacket, tie and possibly a cane. Photo is of the same group and location as 1000.001.139. The women are known to have been members of the Catholic Women's Guild of Hopkinton. In a 2005 email, Ruth Holmes, the granddaughter of Florence Fecteau (pictured in the photo), recounted that her grandmother would often dress up in extravagant costumes with her friends to visit and cheer up sick people in Hopkinton, as well as servicemen who were in Framingham's Cushing Hospital. The photo is believed to be from around 1930. This dates the costumes as being anachronistic, and knowing the context in which they were worn, they would have been deliberately chosen for a humorous and whimsical appearance to entertain the sick and wounded. The use of male clothing is further evidence of this, and the seated woman's grandmotherly appearance appears to be purposefully exaggerated. She is identified as "Mrs. Moriarty." A duplicate copy of the one known related photo is located in Collection 12, Box 1, Folder 5. This folder also includes the email from Ruth Holmes and a copy of the related photo that identifies the women's names, which are also applicable to this photo.
- Name on Item:
-
Photo by E.W. Taylor
- Date:
-
1900
- Format:
-
Photographs
- Genre:
-
Portrait photographs
Group portraits
Photographic prints
- Location:
-
Hopkinton Historical Society
Museum/History Center
Collection 2, Box 3, Folder 10 (shelf locator) - Collection (local):
-
Photographs of Hopkinton Places and People
- Subjects:
-
Catholicism
Costumes
Dresses
Organizations
Older people
Top hats
Fecteau, Florence
Fecteau, Isabell
Fecteau, Rose
Keenan, Ann
- Places:
-
MassachusettsMiddlesex (county)Hopkinton
- Extent:
- 1 photograph : print on mount ; sheet 7 x 5 in., mount 8 x 10 in.
- Permalink:
- https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/9306wk409
- Terms of Use:
-
No known copyright restrictions
This work is in the public domain under a Creative Commons No Rights Reserved License (CC0).
