OAH Magazine of History
Volume 24, No 1
January 2010

The OAH thanks the Merck Company Foundation for its generous support for this issue of the OAH Magazine of History

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Organization of American Historians

Illustrations

The Bridal Business

Vicki Howard

llustrations to Accompany the Teaching Strategy
(Click on images for larger version.)

Illustration #1. The "big church wedding" and the "white satin wedding dress" were the reward for wartime sacrifices and patriotism. War bond ads depicted them as part of the American dream. (Courtesy of Duke University)

Illustration #2. Wedding gift registries are ubiquitous today, but in 1960, this "Bride's Preference List" was a new tradition. This wedding gift registry form for the Chicago department store, Carson, Pirie Scott, outlined the goods that brides were supposed to “want.” Note the inclusion of new items symbolic of suburban America, such as the TV snack table and plastic household goods. (Courtesy of Marshall Field’s Archive, Chicago)

Illustration #3. In-house company newsletters like this one from the department store, Strawbridge & Clothier, frequently reported on the social activities of employees. By the postwar era, white working-class and African American couples embraced versions of the formal white wedding tradition advocated by the growing wedding industry. Note that the bride on the left, Edna Stees, is wearing a mauve nylon dress, rather than a white wedding gown. This was her second wedding and etiquette authorities were adamant about white being reserved for first marriages. Strawbridge & Clothier Store Chat 36 (September/October 1954). (Courtesy of Hagley Museum and Library, Pictorial Collections Department)