Exhibit of antiques & Heirlooms at a Public Library

Exhibit of antiques & Heirlooms at a Public Library

This photograph shows a woman displaying a family heirloom (presumably her own) at a public library to two viewers. She holds the dress up to herself, ‘wearing’ it, a sign of her personal connection to it. It is both a historical object, and one that is of her family, her identity, and her memory. She is transported into the past memory—truth or idealized memory does not matter—by this act. However, the women viewing her do not view the woman-dress, past-present combination as a whole—they look down at the dress, away from her. It is not theirs, and so they view it as materiality solely, as a historical object. They do not glean value from her ‘wearing’ it. It might as well be on a table. This image demonstrates the subjectivity of the memento and how different viewers constitute the object differently.

Added by Ben Kaplow

Unknown

Library of Congress Photographs and Prints

Library of Congress Photographs and Prints

December 16, 1925

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008007862/