Portrait photograph of Charlie Woolson. Photograph taken by Gentile: Portrait and Lanscape Photographer. Handwritten note states, "Charlie Woolson, only son of Grandmother Woolson".
Black and white group photograph of African American Civil War veterans posing in front of Lawnfield. Group is not identified. "Copyright and published by J. F. Ryder, Cleveland, Ohio.", Without frame border, approximately 9.5 x 14 in., Featured in the "Cleveland Starts Here" Exhibit
In the 1870s, Paris was reborn following the Franco-Prussian War. As Napoleon III waged territorial battles with the Germans, the conflict affected spirits, trade, finance, and travel. As Parisian life returned to normal, Cleveland tourists braved the trans-Atlantic voyage. By 1895, Harper’s Magazine even criticized those who seemed to come only for fashion: “...American girls never see anything of Paris during their four weeks’ stay there each summer, because so much of their time is taken up at the dress-makers’.”
In 1880, after a decade of European travels and a proposal from a Parisian Count, Helen Cowles married the Secretary of the US Legion, George Pomeroy, in Paris. This dress by Madame Dumonteil may have been part of her trousseau. Clevelanders recommended couturiers to friends, and in 1886 Helen’s neighbor Emma Sterling wrote about two-hour fittings for her Dumonteil gowns, which cost up to $90, roughly $2200 today., Gift of Julia Pomeroy. Featured in "Si Jolie!" Exhibit.