Stitching History: The Journey into Lincoln's World through Apparel Design

In this presentation, Way Library fashion historian-in-residence Kathy Dowd will share the creative process behind designing historically accurate clothing for the life-sized female figures at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Kathy will reveal how authentic apparel was developed to reflect the social status, occupations, and daily lives of women of the time. Way Public Library welcomes Kathy Dowd as our Fashion Historian-in-Residence for September through December 2026. For more than forty years, Kathy Dowd has combined artistic talent, meticulous historical research, and exceptional craftsmanship to bring the past to life through historically accurate clothing and textiles. Her career began in toy and product design, where she refined the creative and technical skills that would later become the foundation of her work as a historical apparel designer. In her pursuit of historical authenticity, Kathy studies original garments, period photographs, paintings, fashion plates, diaries, and surviving textiles to ensure every detail from fabric and construction techniques to trims, fasteners, and accessories faithfully represents the period. Please join Kathy as she presents a variety of programs on historical fashion for the community!