Family History – through fashion and photographs
A personal journey into the past, with excellent advice on tracing ancestors. Bring your own costume items and pictures to be dated.
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Gillian: In 1919 my grandmother Lily Owram posed for a photograph one year before she was married. During the Great War she made submarine drive shafts and I still possess her precision instruments. For this talk I've decided to recreate the gown she wore in the photograph. Fashions may change, but the connection between generations is still strong. There is so much to find out from garments passed down through the family. I seem to have a knack for spotting when things were made, how they were altered and what significance little details may have. Examining a black wedding dress donated by one kind lady, I could tell her something about its use... and fill in a few blanks from her past. Researching family history is an absorbing and rewarding hobby. We're used to accessing documents, yet photographs and costume items can add so much to the picture we have of our ancestors. |
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