A Road Scholar Program by Ellie Carlson

"Some people are married to their jobs, I date costumes." Family photographs are hard to date once the generation pictured has passed away. Many people have unidentified photos in their collection. Determining an approximate date may help you to know whether the woman in the photo is your grandmother or your great-grandmother. This is where costume dating can be helpful. Fashion, especially women’s fashion, was very distinctive in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Becoming familiar with certain popular silhouettes enables one to assign a date range to a photograph, thus helping to identify those pictured. Please bring photographs with you to the lecture and we will all try to date them for you using the techniques outlined in the presentation. Running time: 45 minutes to an hour Requirements: chalkboard or dry erase board, projection screen

Elizabeth "Ellie" Carlson is a museum curator with a specialty in costumes and a background in theatre. She holds a Masters of Historical Administration and Museum Studies from the University of Kansas and has interned at the Smithsonian

This event is Free and Open to the public. For more information, please contact Nina Johnson, 847.256.3602.