Molly O'Donnell has a BA in Costume History and Museum Studies from Hampshire College.
For her senior project, she curated exhibit on 1860-1900’s fashion for the Amherst Historical Society called Dressing Up: Women's Fashion Through the Gilded Age. The exhibit explored the differences between clothing women were could wear in private verses clothing women were expected to wear in public. The comparisons that were featured in the exhibit can be viewed under "Comparing Public and Private Clothing in the Gilded Age". This project included original photography by Robert King with the assistant of the Amherst Historical Society costume department as curated by Molly O'Donnell.
Along with the exhibit she wrote a thesis exploring the comparisons of different expectations and their impacts. Excerpts of this paper can be read under "Gilded Age: Effects of Dress". If interested in the full paper please request the PDF in the contact section.
After college Molly assisted in cataloging pieces in the costume collection at the Maine Historical Society. The project that she assisted on can be seen on the Maine Memory Network.
Gilded Age Exhibit
