Vintage Underwear: White Cotton Drawers (United States, 1860s)


Figure 1.-- One of the earliet underwear garments archived on HBC is pantalettes. Plain versions were called drawers. We note a plain white pair worn in the 1860s. The draweres here are an Off-white plain cotton, knee-length pair of drawers. They are constructed so the legs are spread far apart. The front and back are heavily gathered into a plain waistband.

One of the earliet underwear garments archived on HBC is pantalettes. Plain versions were called drawers. We note a plain white pair worn in the 1860s. The draweres here are an Off-white plain cotton, knee-length pair of drawers. They are constructed so the legs are spread far apart. The front and back are heavily gathered into a plain waistband. They are partially open at each side seam from waist band down with two sets of opposing buttonholes at each side of the waist. There are five rows of tucks around each cuff. Each leg was finished off with a thin row of off-white crochet. Frawers like this would have been worn with skirted garments like dresses, kilts, or tunics. We do not have any information on just what clothes were worn with the drawers here. In this case information is available on the provinance of the garment. The drawers were Worn by Fred Mason Brown (1862-1927). Fred was the son of Timothy Brown, a well-known pioneer in the Madison, Wisconsin area. Fred was born in Madison. , He married Annie Storer, a member of another prominent Madison family (1887). They had our children. Timothy was born in 1889, Alice in 1896, but died as a young child in 1900. The two other daughters married names were Mrs. Robert M. Haydon and Mrs. Arthur Shiverick. Fred Brown became the Vice President of the Central Wisconsin Trust Company. His son Timothy practiced law in Madison. He was nominated to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and sat there (1949-1964). He became Chief Justice (1962).








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Created: 8:14 PM 4/20/2010
Last updated: 8:14 PM 4/20/2010