THE WEDDING DRESS, 2004 CALENDAR

White satin, orange blossoms, veils of tulle and pearls-from earliest colonial days, wedding dress has taken on as much symbolism as any American textile, including Old Glory.What the wedding represents to Americans in all walks of life, throughout wartime and peace, hardship and prosperity, weaves so richly throughout our national history and culture that it seems at times the warp of the American Dream itself.Though the cost of today's average wedding dress documents its continuing power as a cultural icon, it does not undercut the symbolic value of even the plainest hard-sewn gowns of wool on the frontier.Featuring more than seventy gowns and other objects of wedding dress from twelve North American public and private collections, this CSA book-on-the-wall connects our most evocative material culture to its narrative history. Stories and custom of American weddings from 1800 to mid-twentieth century, of mail-order, wartime, and society brides, punctuate this lush month-by-month exhibit of perennial symbols of happily ever after.Contributors for 2004 are Maine Historical Society; Stephens College Historical Costume Collection; California Historical Society; University of Alberta; Southern Oregon Historical Society; Susan Anthony, private collector; Preservation Society of Newport County; The National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Molly Brown House; Public Museum of Grand Rapids; The Museum of Texas Tech University; and Kansas State University Historic Costume Museum.