Costume Society of America Meets in Salt Lake City to Celebrate 50 Years
Costume Society of America kicked off our year-long celebration of our 50th Anniversary at the Annual Meeting and Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah, from May 23 through 27, 2023. Our theme, “Crossroads of Dress & Adornment: Creativity, Culture, and Collaboration,” created the umbrella for a rich program of special presentations, concurrent sessions, off-site explorations, and workshops. Abstracts of this 49th Annual Meeting and Symposium can be
downloaded here.
Before the conference began, CSA’s Angels spent a day at the Heritage Museum of Layton in Layton, Utah, processing over 200 clothing artifacts and partially completing the collections care process on many others. A dozen people took a pre-symposium trip to Park City, Utah, where they participated in a walking tour of the city and viewed the Thrift Style exhibit at the Park City Museum. Professional Development Workshops included a “Meet Your CSA Editor” session led by Ingrid Mida, Dress Editor, and Susan Wadsworth-Booth, Director of Kent State University Press, and featuring a video from e-News editor Madison Brito; a tenure guidelines conversation led by Leon Wiebers, CSA President Elect; and a Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Belonging Committee listening session led by Kelly Reddy-Best and Melissa Gamble, DEAB Committee Co-Chairs.
Our 50th Anniversary celebration kicked off with an opening reception on Wednesday evening, where attendees got down and funky in their favorite 70’s garb, including the 1970s, 1770s, and 2070s! This followed a ceremony at which this year’s winners of Grants, Projects, Awards, and Honors were announced. Abby Lillethun adds her name to those who have been honored as a Costume Society of America Fellow due to her significant contributions to the field of costume, and two honorees received the Mary D. Doering Guardian Honor, which pays tribute to individuals who recognize the values of artistic, historical, and socially significant objects of dress and appearance: Susan J. Jerome and Marie T. Schlag. Also given were the Adele Filene Student Presenter Grants, CSA Travel Research Grant, Stella Blum Student Research Grant, Small Museum Collection Care Grant, and the College and University Collection Care Grant, as well as the CSA Betty Kirke Excellence in Research Award, CSA Costume Design Award, Howard Vincent Kurtz Emerging Theatre Artist Award, Millia Davenport Publication Award, and the Richard Martin Exhibition Awards. A full list of winners can be found here.
On Thursday, attendees heard a fascinating discussion led by Shelly Foote with our Scholars’ Roundtable participants, Kelly Reddy-Best, Leon Wiebers, Adam MacPhàrlain, and Petra Slinkard, and a moving keynote presentation by Fleurette Estes and Joy Farley, two Diné (Navajo) sisters, in conversation with Lost Origins Gallery owner Jason Hamacher about the living legacy of Navajo clothing. In the afternoon, attendees visited the Fort Douglas Military Museum and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.
Concurrent sessions throughout the symposium covered diverse topics such as science fiction costuming, dandy style, convict dress, Italian Renaissance portraiture, and the process of mounting uniforms. On Friday, Kevin Jones and Christina Johnson gave a fascinating presentation on their 2022 Millia Davenport Publication Award-winning publication, Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960. Design Exhibition and Poster presenters put together an incredible display, and attendees vied for silent auction purchases encouraged by competition from Howard Vincent Kurtz. On Saturday, Petra Slinkard spoke about the beautiful 2022 Richard Martin Exhibition Award-winning exhibition Made It | The Women Who Revolutionized Fashion at the Peabody Essex Museum, and the conference ended with a fascinating presentation by Marrisa Mitsuing and Kim Verrier, curators of Powwow! Ohcîwin the Origins, Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery, also a 2022 Martin award winner. Presentation recordings by Jones and Johnson, Slinkard, and Mitsuing and Verrier, as well as by 2021 CSA Stella Blum Student Research Grant Winner Lynda May Xepoleas about “Hodinöhsö:ni’ Women & Archival Erasures at the New York State Museum, 1909-1915,” will be available soon on the CSA’s members-only site. Additional 2023 symposium content will be seen on upcoming “As Seen at Symposium” webinars. Stay tuned for more information!
Throughout the symposium, Meet-and-Greets were held for Member-to-Member program participants and first-timers, students, and CSA Fellows, and President Lalon Alexander presided over a town hall meeting at which pre-submitted questions and inquiries from the floor were answered.
We extend our sincere appreciation to our sponsors: Silver Level, Bloomsbury Academic and Margaret’s Couture Cleaners; Bronze Level, DittoForm LLC Michigan; Angels Project, University Products, Talas, Gaylord Archival, and Archival Methods; Keynote, The BYU Charles Redd Center for Western Studies; and Design Exhibition, Mannequin Rental Co. Thanks also to our marketplace participants and advertisers: CSA Series at Kent State University Press, Edinburgh University Press, Fleurette Estes, and Kotah Bear Jewelry. Participants in this year’s fundraiser event were treated to a performance of The Prom and a behind-the-scenes tour of the costume shop at the Pioneer Theatre Company at the University of Utah. We are pleased to announce that this year’s Silent Auction raised over $4,000—thanks go to all those who donated and purchased items in support of this effort, and to our co-coordinators, Edie Sanford and La Beene. Attendees also showed their individual support through sponsorships. Bryce Canyon National Park Sponsors ($100) included Lalon Alexander, Theresa Alexander, June Burns Bove’, Jacqueline Field Roberts, Michaele Haynes, Elizabeth Herridge, Adam MacPhàrlain, Elise Yvonne Morin-Rousseau, Margaret Ordonez, and Susan Yanofsky. Arches National Park Sponsors ($50) included Heidi Cochran, Judi Dawainis, Susan Hannel, Gayle Strege, and Leon Wiebers. Canyonlands National Park Sponsors ($25) included Suzanne LeSar, Arlesa Shephard, and Jennifer Tracz. Capitol Reef National Park Sponsors ($10) included Margaret Geiss-Mooney, Nan Mutnick, Colleen Pokorny, and Sara Wilcox.
We would like to express our immense gratitude for the hard work of our fantastic local arrangements team, who had originally planned to hold the symposium in 2021 but worked through the postponement caused by the pandemic: Symposium Co-Chairs Vicki Berger and Heidi Cochran (who also serves as Vice President for Education & Programs and Southwestern Region Chair); Abstracts Co-Administrators Sheryl Farnan and Theresa Alexander; Abstracts Editor Michaele Haynes; Angels Project Coordinators Martha Grimm and Margaret Ordoñez; CSA Vice President for External Relations Karen DePauw; Design Exhibition Chair Susan Yanofsky; Evaluation Chair Sarah Mosher; First Time Attendees/Member-to-Member Program Chairs Anne Toewe, Sally Queen, and Vicki Berger; Fundraiser Event Co-chairs Dennis Wright and Molly Hartvigsen; Thursday Afternoon Tours Chair Molly Hartvigsen; CSA President and Marketplace Chair Lalon Alexander; Pre-Symposium Tour Co-coordinators La Beene, Heidi Cochran, and Vicki Berger; Silent Auction Co-chairs Edie Sanford and La Beene; and the at-large local arrangement team members Annette Becker, Suzanne LeSar, Melissa Clark, and Gina Love. Special thanks go to the more than 30 abstract reviewers who made our symposium possible.
We want to hear from you! Whether you attended this year’s symposium or not, please give us your thoughts by clicking here. Your feedback is valuable to us as we plan for the future.
Next Year’s Plans
CSA’s Mid-Atlantic Region will host the 50th Annual Meeting and National Symposium in Washington, D.C. from May 21 to 25, 2024. Look for more information coming soon!
Images top row left to right: Kelly Borrello enjoying the behind-the-scenes tour of the costume shop at the Pioneer Theatre Company; the Southwestern Region symposium team; Ingrid Mida takes a photograph of the Scholars’ Roundtable participants
Images bottom row left to right: Keynote presenters Jason Hamacher, Fleurette Estes, and Joy Farley; Margarette Joyner and Sally-Yu Leung; Howard Vincent Kurtz in the final moments of the silent auction; Gail Alterman, June Burns Bove’, and Newbold Richardson
