Mary A. Barton, an Iowa State Alumni, has been regarded as one of the best quilt makers of all time. Special Collections now stores her collection of fashion illustrations from years 1776 ā 2008. I was very excited to explore this collection, and share some highlights with you all. However, due to the massive amount of these gorgeous fashion illustrations, Iāve decided to focus this blog post only on the ones from 1800-1810. Of course, there are still so many lovely illustrations from this ten-year period that this post will be featuring just a few of my favorites.
Fashion Illustration dated 1803 
Fashion Illustration dated 1804 
Fashion Illustration dated March 1, 1806 
Fashion Illustration dated August 1, 1807 
Fashion Illustration dated July 1, 1808 
Fashion Illustration dated May 1, 1809 
Fashion Illustration dated June, 1809 
Fashion Illustration dated December, 1809 
Fashion Illustration dated July 1, 1810
All of the materials in this post can be found in box 1 of the Mary A. Barton Fashion Illustration Collection, RS 21/7/9. Feel free to stop into the reading room to view these incredible artifacts, and many more, in person. Or view some of the digitized fashion images from this collection in our digital collections.
Additionally, we have posted a few other things from this collection, so check out those posts as well.
Cardinal Tales 
Mary’s collection is indeed massive—-did all of these illustrations come from Godey’s Lady’s Book or are they from a variety of sources?? The hardest part I had in working with her collection was determining the original source.
Diana
Hi Diana! That is a great question. Unfortunately, I just briefly delved into the collection for social media content so I am not quite sure on how to answer. Please email archives@iastate.edu for more information. š