Upcoming Mid-Atlantic Regional Events

Registration Fees:

• Member: $150 Early Bird, $170 Regular Registration
• Student Member:  $125 Early Bird, $125 Regular Registration
• Non-Member: $170 Early Bird, $190 Regular Registration

Registration for the full conference includes the Friday night reception, as well as Saturday’s lunch and afternoon snack. There are additional charges for the optional pre-symposium programs.

Guests may register for the Friday night lecture and reception for $40.

Click here for the registration form.

Early bird registration ends on September 25, 2026. Registration closes on October 2, 2026.

Friday, October 9, 2026

• 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm: Registration at the Fashion Archives & Museum, Shippensburg University
• 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm: optional pre-symposium visit to the Shippensburg History Center (see the pre-symposium activities tab for more information)
• 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm: optional pre-symposium afternoon “Revolutionary Tea” at the Fashion Archives (see the pre-symposium activities tab for more information)
• 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm: optional pre-symposium visit to the Cumberland Historical Society (see the pre-symposium activities tab for more information)
• 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm: Opening welcome session and keynote address “Corsets at the Centennial: Showcasing Women Inventors, Dress Reform, and American Industry” by Kristina Haugland at Grove Forum, Shippensburg University
• 6:30-8:00 pm: Catered opening reception at the Fashion Archives to view the current exhibit following the keynote

Saturday, October 10, 2026

• 7:30 am to 5:00 pm: Registration, juried papers with boxed lunches included and catered afternoon coffee/tea and cookies. at Grove Forum, Shippensburg University
• Dinner on your own.

Sunday, October 1, 2026

• Return home with option to self-schedule visit the Apple Harvest Festival on the way. For information see: https://www.appleharvest.com/.

These additional pre-symposium activities are available on Friday, October 9, 2026; attendees need to organize their own transportation. Guests may register for these activities.

1. Cumberland County Historical Society, 21 N. Pitt St., Carlisle, PA 17013, will share its costume and textile holdings in a private visit with the curator, Cijianna Berry, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Visit includes time to explore the museum. $5 charge applies; registration is limited to 20.
2. Shippensburg History Center, 52 W. King St., Shippensburg, PA 17257, will share its textile holdings, including a rare pair of stays from the 1790s, from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm. $5 charge applies; registration is limited to 20.
3. The Fashion Archives and Museum will host a Revolutionary afternoon tea and lecture with renowned tea historian and expert Judy Larkin, from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm. (Please note: due to timing, it is possible to register for this program along with #2, but not with #1). Participants will have the opportunity to taste the teas that the colonists boycotted (when they were not dumping them into Boston Harbor) and enjoy period foods. $25 charge applies; registration is limited to 20. Please note: eighteenth-century recipes contain gluten and/or dairy products. 

Subject to change without notice

• Diane Barnard, “Trash or Treasure? Challenging Our Collecting Mindset.”
• Alison Rose Bazylinski, “Short Pants Cause Long Controversy: The Fight for Uniform Shorts in the Post Office.”
• Payton Elizabeth Becker, “Marrying the American Dream: The White Wedding Dress in Bridal Advertisements During World War II.”
• Colleen Callahan, “A Concealed Garment from Historic Kenmore.” 
• Steph Craven, “Pregnancy and Hand-Me-Downs: A Case Study of a Transformed Garment.”
• Grace Harris, “Creating the Political Ideal: Dress and Public Image in Jacqueline Kennedy’s Fashion.”
• Carla Kungl, “The Hat’s Where It’s At: Women Writers and Detectives in the Late 19th Century.”
• Howard Vincent Kurtz, “Inaugural Fashion 1881 and the ‘Natural Form.’”
• Margaret Susan Murphy, “Negotiating Emerging Freedoms: Gender, Visibility, and Women’s Hats in Postwar America.”
• Jean Parsons, “Marion Stehlik: Designer, Model Maker, American Textile Industry Promoter.”
• Cassidy Percoco, “Plain or Fancy? Elizabeth Cope Collins's Plain Wedding Dress.” 
• Karen Perlman, “Freedom and Identity in Fashion: Native-American Design Influences in the Early 20th Century.”
• Susan Picinich, “Early Baltimore County Elites: Fashion, Taste, and Status in the Household of Captain Charles Ridgely and Rebecca Dorsey Ridgely of Present‑Day Towson, Maryland.”
• Jessica Ann Pushor, “Elizabeth Kecklys’ Lincoln relics at the Chicago History Museum.” 
• Erin Shaw, “’The Point of a Needle Inserted’: Fashion, Taste, and Sewing in the Home Economics Movement, 1899-1919.”
• Jenise Irene Sileo, “Liberty Magazine: Freedom and Fashion for the 1920s Trousseau.”
• Constance Spotts, “Two Progressive Women and Their Drafting Tools: Judith Blackburn and Maude Russell.”
• Evan Stackpole, “‘Revolt into Style’: Working-Class Dress and the Transformation of American Menswear, 1781-1810.”

The Wyndham hotel at 32 E. King Street, Shippensburg, is offering a special conference rate of $79/night + tax that includes free breakfast.  Click here to reserve your room. 

The hotel includes the University Grille restaurant, and there are other restaurants within walking distance.

Shippensburg University is easily accessible off I-81, and Amtrak runs to Harrisburg, PA. Harrisburg has an international airport with multiple car rental services available. 

The Fashion Archives and Museum has its own parking lot available to participants.

• Do you wish you could shop at a real fabric store? One with 100% linens, wools, and silks? Difficult-to-find fabrics such as wool gauze and wool muslin? Reproduction period cotton prints? Needle & Thread, between 10 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., 2215 Fairfield Rd., Gettysburg, PA 17325, is offering an exclusive discount (20% for cash or check, less for credit card) for conference participants. Self-identify that you are with the Fashion Archives conference to obtain your discount.
• More fabric can be found at the Shippensburg Factory Outlet, 46 W. Garfield St., Shippensburg, PA 17257, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. A wonderful place where you never know what yardage you will find that you can’t live without. Stock changes constantly.
• Still more fabric is located at Old Spool Fabrics and Yarn, 153 W. Orange St., Shippensburg, PA 17257, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
• If you are a knitter who likes local yarn shops, The Yarn Basket is right off I-81 at 150 Falling Spring Rd., Chambersburg, PA 17202. Open from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on Fridays.
• Lindt Chocolate Factory Outlet, 40 Logistics Dr., Carlisle, PA 17013. Open from 11:00 a.m.-6 p.m. on Fridays.