Jan Loverin, curator of the Nevada State Museum’s Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Center for more than 30 years, will share her expertise on the intimate history of men’s and women’s underwear with the Leisure Hour Club on Oct. 21.
As curator for the Clothing and Textile Center, Loverin assists the public in identifying and dating historic costumes, as well as with preservation and display problems and techniques. She and the staff also provide historic costume programming on various aspects of fashion history.
The Nevada State Museum’s separate textile facility is dedicated to storing and preserving historic costume and textile collections. The center houses the Marilyn J. Horn fashion library and large collection area, which includes 19th, 20th and 21st century garments, quilts, flags, and accessories. The collections are used in exhibitions at the Nevada State Museum, the Nevada Historical Society and the Nevada State Railroad Museum.
The collection is comprehensive, focusing on Nevada and the Great Basin. Artifacts include Nevada’s First Ladies Inaugural Ball gowns, entertainment costumes, wedding attire, everyday and formal wear, military, religious, railroad and fraternal garments.
The center is named after Marjorie Ann Guild Russell, a former Nevada First Lady and longtime Nevada State Museum Board of Trustee member. The Marilyn J. Horn Library is named after University of Nevada-Reno professor Dr. Marilyn Horn Bohmont, whose work and endowment provided digital cataloguing for our collections. The center is open for research, programs and tours by appointment only.
If you would like to attend the event, call Dorothy Link at 775-885-2542 no later than Thursday, Oct. 15, to make a reservation. The meeting is preceded by a buffet dinner at 6:30 p.m. in the Carson Nugget Capitol Ballroom. Reservations are required.
The Leisure Hour Club, established in September of 1896, is Carson City’s oldest continuously operating social organization. Now beginning the celebration of its 119th year, the organization continues to focus on its goal of promoting knowledge on important issues, science, music and literature.