We can give future generations a valuable gift of our stories. Even mundane stories about a small part of our lives can be those little gems that reveal important facets of our lives.
I came across a lovely collection of stories produced by the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the later half of the 1930s. These “Life Histories/Stories,” Barbour County, Alabama, included three interviews. These included stories about a Southern Bell operator who later became one of the first female managers, a physician whose father was born on a slave-holding plantation, and woman historian who spoke of her debutant ball gown.
That woman was Eugenia Persons Smartt (1883-1949). It seems very plausible that the dress described in the interview is the very same dress in the portrait included on this page. At least that’s the story I am going with!
Eugenia’s stories
In an interview with FWP writer Gertha Long Couric (1882-1970), Eugenia relates that her family’s wealth “was swept away with the War Between the States.” She expresses pride about attending Union Female College that was forced to close the year they graduated due to a bank failure. Eugenia’s inspiration to be a historian came from two uncles who were writers.
In her 1903 world, girls “were not taught any special vocation, for they were not supposed to work except as teachers.” So she opened her own free studio to teach art. This appreciation of art extended to the stylish and beautiful dresses “made the most beautiful hands in the world and fashioned from an artist’s mind — my mother’s”
The Dress
An excerpt from the interview:
There was much work on a dress in 1904 when I was a debunte, yards and yards of ruffling and skirts were skirts in those days and not just pillow cases. We were beginning to ruff and ruin our naturally beautiful hair and pull it back over those horrible “rats” until we had a swell pompadour. All girls wore underwear, and the cotton underskirt was somewhat like a life-preserver as it rolled around the hip. Drawers were starched stiff with fluted ruffles. A stiff whalebone corset was laced until our breath most left us. Thus it was, with a small waist and large hips, we were in style.
… Weren’t we swell? High neck dresses, large busts, long sweeping skirts, huge bustles, the “June dip” and a hat with several large plumes. We would never admit that our left arm tired of constantly holding that long sweeping skirt when we walked.
If the 1904 dress is not the one in the photo, it is much the same, and certainly of the same spirit of the times. The photo could well be Eugenia’s 1905 “wedding gown of white crepe-de-chene, with only a jewel, a crescent of diamonds,” though I can’t see jewelry in this photo. Another argument against this being her wedding dress is the hat. There were some bride hats in vogue in the early 1900s, though they usually included a veil.
The rest of the story
Obviously, Eugenia was much more than her wardrobe and sense of style. The interview covers many more interesting parts of her life, including starting a Kindergarten, dancing, growing peaches, surviving typhoid fever, and caring for her elderly parents past their 57th wedding anniversary.
She ends the interview with the “hope that this true story will encourage those who may have many obstacles to overcome as I did, before they can accomplish their heart’s desire.”
The WPA built a lot of infrastructure, such as roads, schools, libraries, and parks. It helped finish supplying electricity and running water to almost every home in the U.S.
Perhaps even more enduring, it helped record and preserve this nation in music, theatre, photographs and stories. We continue to benefit from those efforts through these stories.
And we can give the future the gift of our stories…