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Fashion in the Lives of Women: Ann Neilson’s Wedding Dress
This project was undertaken by History students Izzy Judge, Kaitlin Wadey, Anya Tsobenko, and Samantha Eden. It was proposed by the Museum of Gloucester in order to investigate the story behind a wedding dress in the Museum’s extensive costume collection. The story provides insights into the hidden lives of women in the 19th century, changes in fashion and connections to the plantation economy of the Caribbean. Their exhibition below comprises six textual-visual panels, followed by a short film which provides more detail on the Neilson family. The students presented and discussed their work at the Gloucester History Festival’s Scriptorium sessions on 17th September 2025, read about it here.
One response to “Fashion in the Lives of Women: Ann Neilson’s Wedding Dress”
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I’d like to complement Izzy, Anya, Kaitlin, and Samantha on this excellent research. I learned much that was of interest about the presumed details of Anne Neilson Goodall’s life in County Wexford.
The detail about Anne Neilson’s bridal gown is fascinating, and you’ve provided a useful lens for thinking about important questions connected to the legacy of slavery. The unanswered questions that you frame up in that last slide are spot on!
Robert Neilson and his daughter are emblematic of an Atlantic world that was both expansive and ruthless, refined and savage. Thank you for the detail you’ve surfaced about Anne Neilson Goodall’s life in Ireland, and for your contribution to our collective understanding of the ways enslavement and exploitation shaped our past and continue to affect our present.
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