Colonial Clothing

A COLLECTION OF CLOTHING ITEMS DATING BACK TO EARLY 1700’S

The Huntington Historical Society Costume collection contains thousands of clothing items, donated since the founding of the Society in 1903. The items range from the glorious to the mundane, from old to new, from excellent condition to poor, from hand made to machine made.

Legislator Jon Cooper recently stopped by the Conklin House to see the results of his support to maintaining and displaying our Costume collection.​
The Huntington Historical Society Costume collection contains thousands of clothing items, donated since the founding of the Society in 1903. The items range from the glorious to the mundane, from old to new, from excellent condition to poor, from hand made to machine made.

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The Huntington Historical Society Costume collection, which is stored in the attic of the Kissam House, is precious gem. The collection consists of a variety of clothing items collected over the last 100 years. The original items were donated to the Society, when it was formed following Huntington’s 250th anniversary celebration. The original dresses had been provided as a display at the celebration. After the celebration the ladies of the community, who had organized the affair, decided to start the Historical Society, and they kept the dresses to start the collection.

The Costume collection consists of various types of clothing. There are women’s dresses, blouses, hats, shoes, gloves and shawls. There are marvelous gowns and simple day wear. There are men’s coats, pants, shoes and gloves. There are uniforms and official hats. There are innumerable everyday clothing items and many one-of-a-kind dress items.
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The Historical Society puts on several costume collection exhibits in the Kissam house and the Conklin House each year which provide the community a view of clothing from our past.

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