This dress was worn by Catalina Juliana Mason Myers, who was born in Puerto Rico in 1823. Her father, Sidney Mason, served as the first U.S. Consul to Puerto Rico and married a local woman, Maria Dorado. When her mother died in 1835, Catalina was placed in a convent school in Boston. Later she attended Miss Willard's school for girls in Troy, New York. In 1847 she married Theodorus Bailey Myers, a New York lawyer. They made their home in New York City until they moved to Washington, D.C. in the 1870s. Catalina was partially deaf, having lost her hearing during a childhood illness. She died in Washington, D.C. in 1905. This dress was part of her trousseau and probably made by a New York dressmaker. Mrs. Myers and her daughter, Catalina Myers Mason James, were instrumental in founding the costume collection at the Smithsonian Institution. This dress was exhibited in the early 20th century in the Arts and Industries Building and in the Hall of American Costume from 1964 to 1973.
