Dresses of the Koester House
All photos by Marna Jean Davis from the cataloging sessions at Koester House Museum
- All rights reserved, for study purposes only.
Please do not copy.
I was asked by a friend if I would be interested in looking at some dresses at the Koester House Museum
late last year. She explained that they had no one who could help them date them accurately, although
they knew some of the dresses belonged to Sylvia Koester and could be pretty safely dated
between her wedding to Charles F. Koester in 1876 and her death in 1883. We packed up the
reference volumes, got out the cataloging equipment and headed to Marysville, KS in January.
I was delighted to find a treasure trove when I got there. The first piece I picked up was a detachable train
from a ballgown(they had no idea what it was), I sent my husband through the rest of the house to
search for the rest of the dress, and he came bouncing back down the stairs saying- you aren't going to
believe this- but you are going to be here all day! ( I spent 2 days just covering basic cataloging)
What I thought would be a few dresses turned into over 30,
belonging to Sylvia, her daughters and daughter-in-law and covering a timespan from
1875-1930. The best part was when we discovered Sylvia's husband had not only put up her best dresses
when she died, he also lovingly folded away the dresses he saw her in day to day.
We are now in the process of planning some programs around this wonderful collection.
Money needs to be raised to preserve it for future generations, the conditions they were
being kept in were not good for textiles of this importance.
We are also hoping to make patterns from several of these gowns.
If you are interested in attending an all day workshop in Marysville, KS with a special showing
of the dresses please fill out the form at the bottom of the page and we will let you know
the details as they arise.
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Wedding Dress circa 1905-1910
thought to be son Charles J. D. Koester's bride V. Hyacinth Pulleine.
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Late teens dress (probably 1913)
most likely belonging to Tinnie (Koester) Helevering. whose husband Guy was a Congressman from 1913-1919
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Princess Dress (teagown or wrapper) in two shades of brown silk. Circa 1877-1880
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Traveling dress worn to Centenial Exposition in 1876 By Sylvia Koester
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Child's Fancy Dress Costume
either Jennie or Tinnie's
Circa 1880's
labeled "the fairy dress"
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Changeable wool wrapper for daily wear
Circa 1876
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