| Comstock Fashion Exhibit |
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“Buttons, Buckles, and Beads: A Vignette of Virginia City Fashion.” April 7, 2008 Carson City, Nevada. The Comstock Historic District Commission announced the premier of a new exhibit: “Buttons, Buckles, and Beads: A Vignette of Virginia City Fashion.” The exhibit is now on display at Virginia City’s Comstock History Center and features a wide variety of clothing accessories and jewelry worn by people living on the Comstock Mining District during the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Heffner drew on the full range of excavations conducted by the State Historic Preservation Office, the Comstock Historic District Commission, and the University of Nevada, Reno since 1993. Most of the material for the exhibit came from excavations conducted in 2008 at the site of Maguire’s Opera House and at what was once a rough part of town on South C Street known as the Barbary Coast.
Virginia City celebrates its 150th anniversary this year as it commemorates the first strikes in 1859. The exhibit in the Comstock History Center is intended as part of a year-long celebration. “Unfortunately, the Comstock History Center is slated to be closed due to budget cuts, so anyone who wants to see this exhibit should visit the facility before July 1, 2009,” said Ron James, Nevada state historic preservation officer who supervises the facility.
The Comstock History Center, located on the corner of Union and “E” Streets in Virginia City. Admission is free. The Center also displays the Virginia and Truckee Railroad Engine #18, the Dayton, which the Nevada State Railroad Museum has restored. The Comstock History Center is open Thursday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm or by appointment. For inquires regarding the Center please contact Bert Bedeau at 775-847-0281.
The State Historic Preservation Office is an agency of the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs. The Department serves Nevada’s citizens and visitors through cultural and information management, presentation and promotion of cultural resources, and education. The Department also includes the Division of Museums and History, Nevada State Library and Archives, Nevada Arts Council, Comstock Historic District Commission, and Commission for Cultural Affairs. For more information on the Department of Cultural Affairs, please call Teresa Moiola at (775) 687-8323 or visit the department’s website at www.NevadaCulture.org. |
“Some of the more fascinating items include a decorative garter belt clasp, a small pendant with red glass beads, and a faux turquoise pendant with a filigree border,” said Sarah Heffner, who put together the exhibit using artifacts she helped excavate during the summer of 2008. Heffner is a graduate student in the Anthropology Department at the University of Nevada, Reno.
“These artifacts provide an opportunity to see in very real terms the sort of fashion-related items that Virginia City residents enjoyed during the height of the bonanza period,” said Carolyn White, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
