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Last Mantua Maker: Women in Boston's Clothing Trades
March 24, 2005
Marla Miller assistant professor, public history, UMASS Amherst

In 1845, after almost a dozen years in business, Rebecca Goodwin Major closed up shop. She was the very last Boston woman to call herself a mantuamaker in the pages of the city directory. Most of her competitors abandoned the 17th-century term for the more up-to-date nomenclature, dressmaker.

Marla Miller, assistant professor of public history at UMASS Amherst, will look at how one of the most prestigious occupations available to American women since the 17th century, faded from the Boston scene.

History
Art & Architecture | Culture | mantuamaker | Rebecca Goodwin Major | sewing | Crafts | Fashion | Profiles | Art History | North American | Sexuality | Women's Issues
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