Dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The interesting provenance of this piece enhances its value as part of a museum collection. The accession record states that it was "worn by the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe" (1811- 1896), author of the great novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Stowe family consisted of eleven children, seven boys and four girls. Harriet was the eleventh child. Three boys were born to the family between 1809 and 1815. The most likely brother referred to in the record is prominent Brooklyn preacher and reformer, Henry Ward Stowe (1813-1887).

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art