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In 1944, Kansas City Museum opened a new collection – the Costume Wing. The collection, which is now one of the largest in the Midwest, spans from 1750 to the present, and showcases men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing. The wing, now known as the Costume Institute, has blossomed into a program of visiting scholars and curators, seminars and conferences, sponsored research, and special exhibitions.

Whereas many art collections focus on ornamental, artistically interesting, and aesthetically pleasing clothing, the Costume Institute at Kansas City Museum holds items from all social circles, from ball gowns to everyday garments. This broad approach allows for historical and anthropological interpretation of materials to shed light on economic development, cultural origin, gender studies and different social roles.

In addition to clothing, the collection contains over 100 quilts and household textiles, though the institute’s greatest strengths are in 1920’s women’s clothing and mid-19th and early 20th century children’s clothing. The Costume Institute does claim some highlights, including clothing belonging to high-profile individuals on both the Kansas City and national stage.

Alice Nielsen, a turn-of-the-century Broadway musical star, was a Kansas City native. Near the time of her death in 1943, she donated many of her stage outfits to the Kansas City Museum. Three first ladies – Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman (an Independence, Missouri, native), and Betty Ford – are represented in the collection through dresses.

Nell Donnelly, a.k.a. Nelly Don, was a well-known character in KC, not only for her own garment manufacture company, but for being kidnapped for ransom as an adult, and for her marriage to presidential candidate Sen. James Reed. The Donnelly Garment Company, whose factory was housed at one point in the Western Auto building, made Kansas City the second-largest garment city in the nation during the 1950’s. Garments and oral histories from the company comprise a very “Kansas City” portion of the collection.