"Compelled to pad and wad": spinal curvatures and dress in nineteenth-century America

Abstract

Because of the historic stigma that surrounds physical disabilities, a misinformed narrative that disabled people did not affect their communities, belongings, and environments has persisted. Consequently, disabled people’s agency tends to be limited, if not erased, from historic records. Material culture related to disability, however, helps restore their histories and presence. Objects convey knowledge about people’s lived experiences, relationships with others, and their bodies’ interactions with physical surroundings, including clothing, which specifically preserves memories of the body. ☐ This thesis presents case studies at the intersection of dress and disability in the nineteenth century to examine how women used clothing to simultaneously exert self-presentation and conform to society’s ideals in order to evade social exclusion. By giving attention to the extant dresses that women with spinal curvatures wore, designed, and altered, we begin to understand how clothing mitigated social discomfort, fought against harmful stereotypes, and reduced their disability’s visibility and its related medical devices, such as spinal braces. In addition to extant garments, medical literature, magazines, etiquette manuals, advertisements for assistive medical devices, and photographs provide further insight into the relevance of dress within disability histories. Ultimately, dress and disability are inextricably linked.