1908 Wedding Dress

Ivory silk satin and net wedding dress. Monobosom bodice with panel of net having applied satin piping and trim. Battenburg lace stand-up collar and yoke, set in long net sleeves with tucks and satin applique trim. Slightly raised satin waistline with attached satin sash, gathered and stitched, looped through two satin buckles and hanging full length (ends have fringe).

HCT.1987.259.1a

1908

Helen Knopf, married Charles Gibson McKinney on November 25, 1908 in Cincinnati, Ohio in this dress when she was 24 years of age. Helen was the youngest of five children born to Julius and Caroline Knopf, who had immigrated to Cincinnati from Germany. Julius was a cigar maker by trade and prior to her marriage, Helen attended Teachers Training College in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Charles McKinney was two years older than Helen and the second of four sons born to Alice and William McKinney. William was a coal solicitor and later a real estate agent. After Charles’ and Helen’s marriage, they lived with William McKinney before eventually moving to their own home in Millcreek, Ohio, just outside of Cincinnati. Charles worked as a clerk at the time of their marriage and later as superintendent of a factory for several businesses. The couple would have three children.
Helen’s dress was made by Emma Busam, a dressmaker in Madisonville, Ohio, near Cincinnati. Emma was born in 1872, the youngest of Susan and Leopold Busam’s four children. It is unclear when Emma began working as a dressmaker but seems to have had an established business when she made Helen Knopf’s wedding dress. A copy of the receipt for the dress in the amount of $44.49 accompanied its donation to OSU. In terms of today’s dollars the cost would be about $1148.36, still a relatively good price for a custom-made wedding gown.

Emma Busam

1900-1909