The Wylie House Museum acts as a historical site and resource for IU. Anyone can take a guided tour through the house, filled with artifacts from the family of the first IU President, Andrew Wylie, who built the house in 1835.
The museum offers a speaker series related to 19th-century IU history, the state of Indiana or domestic topics each semester. The latest lecture, “The Wylie House and Mid-Nineteenth Century Fashion,” will take place at 3 p.m. Friday.
Ashley Hasty, a lecturer in the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design, will discuss fashion of the period based off of a photo.
“I’ve chosen a picture of a member of the Wylie family, Margaret, and her husband Arthur Mellette,” Hasty said. “I’m focusing on that picture to tie it in with the Wylie House, talking about the clothing pictured and what fashion would have been in that time.”
The clothing displays at the museum allow students to delve deeper into that period of fashion history, Hasty said. She loves working with Wylie House, and each tour she takes is well planned and geared toward her classes.
“The tour of the house itself is very interesting, actual docents will take people around,” Hasty said. “They’ve been excellent at coming up with lesson plans and programs for the classes I’ve brought. We started out with just a tour of the house and we’re working on new ways to incorporate the Wylie House into the fashion program.”
Carey Beam, director of the Wylie House Museum, said positive reception of a similar lecture format last year led to the decision to continue with this series.
“The idea was conceived by volunteer docents who wanted to learn more and tap into the local knowledge and wisdom held by so many here on campus and in Bloomington,” Beam said. “We had such a positive response from experts willing to share with us that we decided to open up these fantastic educational opportunities to others.”
Beam said the speaker series falls directly in line with the academic objectives of Wylie House as a part of the IU Libraries.
“The Wylie House’s primary objective is to support the academic mission of Indiana University,” Beam said. “Through its interpretation of the 1835 home and access to its museum and archival collections, it affords a unique place-based learning opportunity for historical topics, research and the valuable skills inherent in the study of the arts and humanities.”
Hasty said this lecture has the potential to appeal to both the scholar and anyone interested in the topic at large.
“It’s an academic talk in that there’s a lot of research that went into it, but it’s also a topic that anyone with any interest will enjoy hearing,” Hasty said. “People like to hear about clothing and see images of clothing – it’s a topic that can appeal to anyone no matter what they’re interested in studying.”
The broad topic itself is exciting enough, Hasty said, though what she most looks forward to is discussion of what goes on under the gowns.
“Undergarments are always a huge hit,” Hasty said. “People love to talk about corsets and what was worn under the gowns. In this time period, the skirts were quite large on the dresses. I’ll talk a lot about cages that were worn to make that big skirt.”
Beam said talks such as these not only provide a historical context from expert perspectives but also information on modern or contemporary issues.
“There is a vibrant and ongoing conversation in the field of history and it informs not only our understanding of Andrew Wylie’s time, but provides us with insights into the current human experience and invites us to consider implications for the future,” Beam said.
