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Historic Costume | Fine and Decorative Arts
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Ambrotype
Photograph
A brown thermoplastic case with floral designs on the front and back; purple pillow of the interior left side; image of young woman with center-parted hair and ringlettes on either side of her head; a white collar, black dress with buttons up the center; a gold mat framing the image; red cloth surrounding the mat.
2020.01.2
Ambrotype
Approximately taken in the early 1850s. These curls are called ringlet or more often, sausage curls, which were popular in varying forms throughout the first half of the 19th century. Based on the slight wave in her parted hair (the '40s tended to be a bit austere and thus, less wavy), the tightness and definition of these sausage curls in particular, the collar frill as opposed to a flat rounded collar, and especially those sleeves it appears to be the early 1850s. The 1840s had sausage curls similar to this that bled into the early 1850s, and this woman most likely wore her hair likewise in the 1840s, albeit probably without that wave in the parted section of her hair. The large buttons running down the center front of her bodice also start to appear in the 1850s.
Genesee Country Village and Museum
Holmes, Booth and Haydens
1850 - 1859