"A Society Lady of 1889," Bangor
Contributed by Maine Historical Society and Maine State Museum
Description
John Martin (1823-1904), an accountant and shopkeeper who was interested in fashion, dance, architecture, gardening, and other pursuits, drew this illustration of a "society lady" as she might have appeared in 1889 in Bangor.
He pasted the illustration onto page 65 of a scrapbook he began writing and illustrating in 1888 while he was working at Katahdin Iron Works near Brownville.
Martin wrote, "The above Lady shows what constitutes a Society lady of the present day. The material for dress in this case is not costly but shows that the wearer is a person of fine taste which a poor person has the priviledge to enjoy if they make a study of the changes and clothes themselves in colors and fashions that at once makes their society agreable with to other persons who train themselves & their persons to the best advantage."
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