Dresses 1900-1950
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Nina Mayfield Judah, 1904
Nina Mayfield was born in 1880 to Mame and Guildford Mayfield. Nina graduated
from high school in 1898 and became a teacher. She married Park Judah
on June 23, 1904. Park worked in the millinery business in St. Louis
for 54 years. He spent several years with the Levis-Zukoski Mercantile
Company, which was touted as “importers and jobbers of millinery
and ladies’ furnishing goods…[and] acknowledged
leaders in their time.” He later went on to own A & J Manufacturing
Company, which was established in 1926. Nina and Park had three children
between 1908 and 1911: Virginia, Park W. Jr., and Robert. Park passed
away in 1948, followed by Nina 20 years later.
Nina Judah wore this two-piece, off-white silk crepe dechine dress for her wedding in 1904. The dress has a “pouter pigeon” bodice (full in front and puffed over the waist) with a high neck, bertha collar, puffed sleeves, and long, full skirt with train. This dress exemplifies the tightly corseted S-shaped silhouette and protruding monobosom look popular in the early 1900s.
Two-piece off-white silk crepe de chine wedding gown, 1904
Worn by Nina Mayfield Judah
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Judah
26814
Dorothy Yawitz Roth, 1924
Dorothy Yawitz was born December 29, 1899, in Russia. Her family immigrated
to the United States when she was just a child. She attended Central
High School in St. Louis, and after graduation she worked as a secretary
and translator at Rice Stix and Company a wholesale
dry goods store located at 10th Street and Washington Avenue. Dorothy
married Samuel Roth on December 18, 1924. Samuel leased the floral department
at Famous-Barr on Kingshighway. They had three children, Florine, Annette,
and Harold. Samuel passed away in 1974, and Dorothy died in 1982.
Dorothy Yawitz Roth wore this nontraditional dress for her wedding in
1924. The dress was purchased for her in France by a buyer from Famous-Barr,
where Samuel worked as a florist. The 1920s was a time for youth and
simplicity in fashion, and this embroidered sleeveless silk dress epitomizes
those qualities. Dorothy’s dress is shorter and simpler than most
wedding dresses from the period, but the rule of thumb at this time was
the shorter the dress, the longer the veil.
One-piece beige silk flapper-style beaded and embroidered wedding gown,
1924
Worn by Dorothy Yawitz Roth
Gift of Ms. Florine Sorkin
26816
Frances Jeannette Herdlinger Woodhouse, 1935
Frances Jeannette Herdlinger was born April 24, 1909. She was raised
in the Episcopal Church but was a freethinker. Frances met John Woodhouse
at Kansas City Junior College, and both went on to the University of
Missouri at Columbia. She graduated from the university in 1929 with
a degree in chemistry, while John graduated in 1931 with a degree in
business administration.
Frances taught high school chemistry for a year before going to work in a food chemistry laboratory at Mars Candy Company in Chicago. Because of the Great Depression, she was lucky to have a job. At the time there was social pressure (in some cases, institutional policy) that married women should not work. Frances and John decided to marry out of town, where her co-workers would not hear of the wedding. They took a train to St. Louis, then a bus to Columbia for their June 1, 1935, wedding. On their return to Chicago, Frances resumed work, leaving her wedding ring at home, where it was stolen by a burglar.
Frances worked at Mars until 1940, when she left to have the first of
her three children. Frances did not hold a paying job while raising children,
but she was active as a volunteer at the Stephenson County Historical
Society and on the Freeport Public Library board, both for decades. Frances
later became a teacher for homebound students, which evolved into a classroom
for pregnant students. She taught all subjects. John died in 1994 and
Frances in 2004.
Frances Herdlinger wore this two-piece black silk suit for her wedding to John Woodhouse. Wearing a simple suit or dress was somewhat common during the Depression years, and as Frances and John were married quickly and quietly, a formal gown would have been difficult to obtain. The fitted jacket covers a silk skirt with attached multicolored blouse. Like women in previous decades, Frances continued to wear her wedding suit for other occasions.
Two-piece black and floral wedding dress, 1935
Worn by Frances Herdlinger Woodhouse
Courtesy of Anne Woodhouse
26817
