When this dress was given to the museum in 1966 the donors believed that it was worn by their grandmother, Sarah Arnold Ellis Munn of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Mrs. Munn was born in 1845 and married in 1878. She died in 1919. The date of the dress, based on style, would place it as a dress that she obtained soon after her marriage. The dress is very fashionable and its elaborate construction indicates that it was made by a skilled dressmaker. The dressmaker most likely used one of the commercially available drafting systems in order to create a good fit. The dress might have been made in Fitchburg or in Boston. Unfortunately, there is no label in the dress, so we shall never know the name of this talented woman. Many dressmakers in the 19th century sewed custom-woven or stamped inner waistbands into the inside of the bodice.
