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Dress
Date
1780-1790
ClassificationPersonal Objects - Clothing - Main Garments
Object NumberM2022.18.1.1-2
CollectionMcCord
CreditGift of Tim and Gordon Peters
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
On viewInformation about the objects in our collection is updated to reflect new research findings. If you have any information to share regarding this object, please email reference.mccord@mccord-stewart.ca.Information about rights and reproductions is available here.
Object/Image
Online Collections | McCord Museum - Montreal Social History Museum 
Mrs. Norah Peters in 1780s dress, Montreal, Quebec, 1924
Wm. Notman & Son Ltd.
1924
II-261671
Miss Eileen Peters costumed as “A Society Lady of the 1780s,” Montreal, Quebec, 1928
Wm. Notman & Son Ltd.
1928
II-282443
Miss Eileen Peters costumed as "A Society Lady of the 1780s," for the 1927 Quebec City Historical Ball, Montreal, Quebec, 1928
Wm. Notman & Son Ltd.
1928
II-282444
Ensemble/Component
Online Collections | McCord Museum - Montreal Social History Museum 
This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Azrieli Foundation and Canadian Heritage.