The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources announced a fashionable exhibit opening up at Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Memorial on Feb. 10. The exhibit, “The Boarder’s Garb,” features the styles of clothing likely worn by the boarders at the Old Kentucky Home in 1915. More from the NCDCR:
In Look Homeward, Angel Thomas Wolfe wrote, “Upon the darkening porch, awaiting food, the boarders rocked, oh rocked with laughter.”
One hundred years ago boarding and providing lodging were not unusual in American family life, as an estimated one-third to one-half of all urban Americans either boarded or took in boarders. A new exhibit, “The Boarder’s Garb,” opens Feb. 10 at Thomas Wolfe Memorial.
“Visitors will discover Julia Wolfe’s boarders have returned to unpack their clothes at Old Kentucky Home,” said Historic Site Manager Tom Muir. “And it wasn’t like staying at Downton Abbey.”
Rooming house residents belonged neither to the middle or upper class nor to the working class. The boarder of 1915 aspired to material comfort but had access to very little. Yet they were able to wear the fashionable clothing of the day. Mass production had created the availability of affordable ready-to-wear merchandise through chain stores and mail order catalogs. American men and women accepted the clothing as convenient. Out-of-date fashions could be replaced easily as styles change.
The most common boarders were young, unmarried men or women with slim financial resources. Typically, work had lured rooming house residents to the city, and it was the realities of their work that kept them in economic and residential limbo.
Among the boarders at Old Kentucky Home you might find the working girl of the period, perhaps a saleswoman, secretary or telephone operator. Her dress included the shirtwaist, tall stiff collar, necktie, and wool skirt. Perhaps she would ride her bicycle, which would require wearing scandalous bloomers. Men, such as door-to-door salesmen, wore comfortable suits often similar to uniforms donned during WWI. The high starched collar gave way to the soft collar. High button shoes were replaced by oxfords.
For more information about the exhibit and events contact Thomas Wolfe Memorial, 52 N. Market Street, Asheville, NC 28801, call 828-253-8304 or visit www.wolfememorial.com. The Thomas Wolfe Memorial is within the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources
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