"It's just me and my daughter trying to make our way in life. I've been making dresses since I was a child, so now I make them for some of the ladies in town. It's a living but not an easy one. We take it one day at a time."
-Hattie Evans, Black female, age 35, Kalamazoo
Photo captions: Unidentified woman, circa 1899 (Library of Congress collections); Young women sewing with machines and by hand sewing class at the Agricultural and Mechanical College, Greensboro, N.C.,circa 1899 (Library of Congress collections) Cutting and fitting Agricultural and Mechanical College, circa 1899 (Library of Congress collections).
Gilmore Brothers Deaprtment Store alterations department
To find more historic photographs and artifacts related to dresses or dressmaking in Kalamazoo, visit KVM's searchable collections database.