Fashioning Victorian Femininity in UK Museums

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During the twentieth century, museums were sites in which the Victorian era was conceptualised and viewed. Thisresearch investigates how UK museums conceptualised the relationship between Victorian dress and femininitybetween 1930-1990, a period that saw a radical shift in how histories of both women and dress were interpreted. Itexamines neglected archival material that document practices at the Gallery of Costume (Manchester), TheMuseum of Costume (Bath), York Castle Museum, Cusworth Hall Museum (Doncaster), Hull Museums, The NationalMuseums of Scotland and Brighton & Hove Museums. By analysing how the museums collected and displayedVictorian women's dress, it reveals how museums engaged with wider discourses on Victorian femininity, sexualityand gender and contextualises lesser-known collections of Victorian dress. It makes an important contribution tohistories of how women are represented in museums and produces the first history of the curation of Victorianwomen's dress.