Rebecca Myrick's Shawl Case

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Peggy Derrick

Catalog Number: 1950.001.03

It’s one of a small collection of personal objects said to have belonged to Rebecca Myrick, wife of Nathan, and one of the first white settlers from New England to come to Prairie La Crosse.

By the mid-19th century, shawls were part of every woman’s wardrobe, and were worn for both warmth and fashion.

They came in a variety of fabrics and styles, from fine imported silk and cashmere to plain woven woolens and domestic imitations of exotic Kashmiri paisleys and Chinese embroideries. A lady would have shawls for everyday as well as shawls to wear with her finest dresses.

This bag, with carrying handles, was used to store and transport shawls. We know this because the barest remnants of the word “shawls” can still be made out on the side of the bag; it had been embroidered in red thread, in a cross-stitch pattern. Most of the thread is long gone, but the pattern of hole pricks in the fabric is still visible.

Its age and signs of heavy use are part of what I enjoy about the shawl case: It was clearly well-used. Of the eight buttons, only one appears to be an original bone button. Much of the embroidered decoration has worn off. Seams are sewn by hand, which suggests a pre-1855 date.

Several clues tell us this was most likely a “homemade” item, created by its owner or another woman in her life, a relative or friend, who made it for her as a gift.

The decorative red cross-stitch embroidery was a commonly taught technique used by many women, and not associated with professional needle workers: It was a common domestic skill. The red trim around the handles and set into the seams on the ends, is repurposed braid, manufactured for use on the bottom hems of dresses.

The fabric itself also tells us a lot. It is cotton, with original selvedge edges that are intact, allowing us to measure the width as it came off the loom — only 13 inches wide.

The most likely explanation is that this is the product of a New England textile mill that was producing fabric for toweling. The toweling may have been sold by the yard, or acquired from a mill worker.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on June 22, 2019.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

Marjorie Murphy's Dress

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Amy Vach

Catalog Number: 1975.010.01

A few weeks ago, in Things That Matter, the La Crosse County Historical Society featured the evening dress that Mina Satory wore to one of President Richard Nixon’s inaugural balls.

In the La Crosse County Historical Society’s artifact collection, there is another dress that was worn to a presidential inaugural ball.

A decade earlier, another La Crosse resident attended an inaugural ball, Marjorie Murphy.

In 1975, Murphy donated the dress that she wore to President Eisenhower’s inaugural ball. While she did not specify which year she attended, the strapless style of the dress suggests it was worn at his second inauguration in 1957. The Murphys would have attended one of four inaugural balls held for Eisenhower the evening after the public Oath of Office ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

Murphy wore this gorgeous Elizabeth Arden cream taffeta and black lace dress. From the front, the dress appears to have a slight flare. When looking at the side or at the back of the dress it has a dramatic train that begins at the thigh. The train of the dress has a resemblance to the tailfin feature that was so popular on late 1950s cars.

Marjorie Murphy was born in La Crosse in 1909 to Maximillian and Louise Platz.

She graduated from Central High School and attended Connecticut College for Women and later the University of Wisconsin, where she graduated with honors.

Married in 1934, she and her husband, Eugene Murphy, had three daughters and a son. Eugene was the chairman of his family’s business, Gateway Transportation Company in La Crosse. Her community activities included the La Crosse Garden Club, La Crosse Book Club and the Marquette University Women’s Advisory Board.

Marjorie and Eugene kept up residences in La Crosse as well as Palm Beach, Florida. She died at home on Feb. 9, 2005.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on June 15, 2019.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

Mary Pettibone's Wedding Dress

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Amy Vach

Catalog Number: 1975.011.06

When I was shopping for a wedding dress, I remember the consultant saying that the dress I chose would be the most important dress of my life.

At that moment, I ignored her words. However, sometimes a wedding dress is the only object that remains to remember a person. This is the case of Mary Pettibone Barber.

This wedding dress, worn by Mary Pettibone in 1884, is probably the only belonging of hers that still exists.

We don’t know a lot about Mary Pettibone. She was born in La Crosse in 1861 to Albert and Cordelia Pettibone. A year after Mary’s birth, Albert was elected mayor of La Crosse for three successive one-year terms. Her father was a prominent lumberman and in 1900 donated the land for Pettibone Park.

In 1866, after her father’s terms as mayor, the family moved to Missouri. Mary went to school in Massachusetts and stayed with relatives there. In 1884, she married Capt. J.T. Barber, the manager of the Northwestern Lumbering Company in Hannibal, Missouri.

Mary’s elaborate ivory wedding dress was made in St. Louis in a department store dressmaker’s shop. The St. Louis Post described the wedding as “brilliant.” Another newspaper, the Shelbina Democrat, described it as “a very fashionable affair,” a marriage that united two prominent lumbering families.

After the marriage, the rest of the Pettibone family returned to La Crosse and moved into what is today known as the Cargill-Pettibone House at 145 8th St. S.

Unfortunately, Mary suffered from poor health, and she died in 1886 in Missouri, only two years after her marriage to Capt. Barber. Mary’s body was brought home to La Crosse, and she is buried with her family in Oak Grove Cemetery.

In 1975, the Pettibone family donated various women’s accessories used by Mary, her sister Anna, and her mother Cordelia, including fans, hats, shoes, and handkerchiefs. In addition to the accessories, Mary’s wedding ensemble was donated as well.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on June 8, 2019.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.