Skip to main contentSilver gelatin glass plate negative - Miss Eileen Peters costumed as "A Society Lady of the 1780s," for the 1927 Quebec City Historical Ball, Montreal, Quebec, 1928 | McCord Museum 
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Silver gelatin glass plate negative
Miss Eileen Peters costumed as "A Society Lady of the 1780s," for the 1927 Quebec City Historical Ball, Montreal, Quebec, 1928
Photography studio
Wm. Notman & Son Ltd.
(1919-1954)
SignatureNon signé / Unsigned
Date
1928
Medium / Technique
Silver salts on glass
Gelatin dry plate process
Gelatin dry plate process
Dimensions24 × 16.4 cm
Origin
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, North America
Object NumberII-282444
CollectionMcCord
CreditPurchase, funds graciously donated by Maclean’s magazine, the Maxwell Cummings Family Foundation and Empire-Universal Films Ltd.
NotesExhibition Costume Balls - Dressing Up History, 1870-1927
A Society Lady of the 1780s
Eileen Peters of Montreal wore a family heirloom, a dress that she claimed belonged to her grandmother’s great-greatgrandmother. Working with the name of the original owner, we eventually found records that documented her Scottish origins; her immigration to Virginia with her husband, a baker, in the 1760s; the addition of an enslaved person to their household; their flight to New York in the tumult of the American Revolution; their relocation along with thousands of other Loyalist refugees, white and Black, to Shelburne, Nova Scotia in 1783, when the dress was probably remade in the latest fashion; and finally their resettlement in Quebec City in 1789, where they lived out the remainder of their days. Rarely can such a rich context be established for a garment of this age, and nothing would have been known about it were it not for Eileen Peters’ description of what she wore to the ball.
A Society Lady of the 1780s
Eileen Peters of Montreal wore a family heirloom, a dress that she claimed belonged to her grandmother’s great-greatgrandmother. Working with the name of the original owner, we eventually found records that documented her Scottish origins; her immigration to Virginia with her husband, a baker, in the 1760s; the addition of an enslaved person to their household; their flight to New York in the tumult of the American Revolution; their relocation along with thousands of other Loyalist refugees, white and Black, to Shelburne, Nova Scotia in 1783, when the dress was probably remade in the latest fashion; and finally their resettlement in Quebec City in 1789, where they lived out the remainder of their days. Rarely can such a rich context be established for a garment of this age, and nothing would have been known about it were it not for Eileen Peters’ description of what she wore to the ball.
Status
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Miss Eileen Peters costumed as “A Society Lady of the 1780s,” Montreal, Quebec, 1928
Wm. Notman & Son Ltd.
1928
II-282443
Mrs. Norah Peters in 1780s dress, Montreal, Quebec, 1924
Wm. Notman & Son Ltd.
1924
II-261671
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Inconnu / Unknown
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II-123823
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Wm. Notman & Son
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II-123048
Lady Van Horne costumed as "A Colonial Dame" in the Explorers, Discoverers and Visitors set at the Historical Fancy Dress Ball, Montreal, Quebec, 1898
Wm. Notman & Son
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II-123034
Lady Van Horne costumed as "A Colonial Dame" in the Explorers, Discoverers and Visitors set at the Historical Fancy Dress Ball, Montreal, Quebec, 1898
Wm. Notman & Son
1898
II-123035
Miss Marguerite Pillow costumed as "The Princesse de Savoie," for the Quebec City Historical Ball, Montreal, Quebec, 1927
Rice Studio Limited
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M975.118.39.3
Mrs. Frances Tessier (née Barnard), wife of Jules Tessier, and Élodie Barnard costumed as "The 7th Baroness of Longueuil" and "Madame de Lanaudière" both in the Lemoyne Family of Longueuil set, and Raoul de Saint-Phalle costumed as "Viceroy M. de Chastes" in the French Viceroys and Governors set at the Historical Fancy Dress Ball, Montreal, Quebec, 1898
Wm. Notman & Son
1898
II-124256
This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Azrieli Foundation and Canadian Heritage.