Remember rummaging through the attic in your grandparents or great grandparents? house?
Remember playing dress up wearing all those neat old clothes that smelled of mothballs and memories?
You can relive some of that black-and-white magic as the Northeast Oakland Historical Society museum presents a display of antique fashions now through May 19.
Men’s and ladies? hats, shoes, handbags, watch fobs, button hooks, and other accessories from the late 1800s and early 1900s are currently on display in two showcases.
Historical Society member and museum volunteer Carla Lamberston, of Oxford, carefully unpacked all the unique items and arranged them for public viewing.
‘We’ve got a lot of treasures here in the museum that are packed away because there’s no room (to display them),? she said.
In the men’s case, visitors can view hats including a straw boater from 1910, silk top hat from the 1890s and English-style bowler circa 1910-20.
There’s also a fine pocket watch along with some fobs ? ornaments worn at the end of watch chains to add weight or decoration. One of the watch fobs was made by the grandmother of Lamberston’s husband, Darryl.
The ladies? case features hats galore along with hat pins, jewelry, handkerchiefs with ‘tatting? (a type of lace) and handbags made of metal mesh and pettipoint.
‘I love the hats because most of them are handmade,? Lamberston said. ‘They’re so intricate. A lot of them had more feathers, but after years of being packed away, the feathers wore off..?
One of the hats on display, a lovely brown bonnet, was worn by Sarah Bingham Killam, the mother of Powell C. Killam, a prominent Addison resident and businessman who lived from 1819-1900.
Lamberston noted that women back then ‘didn’t wear much jewelry?, so most of what’s in the showcase are simple beads, pearls, pins with family photos, cameo pins and hat pins, which were used to keep a lady’s hat securely on her head.
‘The bigger the hat, the bigger the pin,? she said.
Lamberston believes displaying this collection of everyday items makes local history more relatable and interesting to folks nowadays, particularly children.
She noted that one of the showcases being used previously housed Lone Ranger memorabilia, but she found that children who visit the museum on school tours are not interested in the famous masked lawman because they have no idea who he is.
‘They’re not relating to the Lone Ranger,? she said. ‘I thought maybe they would relate more to shoes and hats.?
Lamberston hopes displays such as these will encourage more visitors to the museum located at 1 N. Washington St. in downtown Oxford.
‘We do have a lovely museum here,? she said. ‘But there are people who come in and say, ‘I’ve lived in Oxford all my life and I’ve just never been here.??
The museum is currently open on Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m.
Beginning in June, it will be open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m.
‘We would like to be open more, but we don’t have the volunteers,? Lambertson said.
For more information about scheduling a free group tour during the museum’s off hours call (248) 628-8413.