Name/Title
Christening Gown and BlanketEntry/Object ID
2024.10.02Description
Shadowbox containing a christening gown, christening blanket, and family photos.Use
According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_baptism): "Infant baptism is the practice of baptizing infants or young children. Infant baptism is also called christening by some faith traditions. Most Christians belong to denominations that practice infant baptism. Branches of Christianity that practice infant baptism include Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Oriental Orthodoxy. Among Protestants, several denominations practice infant baptism including Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, Nazarenes, Moravians, and United Protestants." The practice of christening was brought to North America by European colonists in the colonial period.
Wikipedia continues: "Although it is not required, many parents and godparents choose to dress the baby in a white gown called a christening gown for the baptism ceremony. Christening gowns often become treasured keepsakes that are used by many other children in the family and handed down from generation to generation. Traditionally, this gown is white or slightly off white and made with much lace, trim and intricate detail. In the past, a gown was used for both boys and girls; in the present day it has become more common to dress children in a baptismal outfit. Also normally made of white fabric, the outfit consists of a romper with a vest or other accessories. These clothes are often kept as a memento after the ceremony."Context
According to the donor, Sandy Lee Carlson: "This was the christening gown of May Louise Steen Isbell, born in Yonkers, New York, 5 August 1887, to Howard Steen and Mary Mills Steen, according to her daughter, Marjorie Mary Isbell Wiley (born 25 May 1913), who found it in the family home at 17 Park Lane, Darien, Connecticut, in the late 1970s and recognized it from her mother's and grandmother's descriptions of it. She and her five siblings wore it, as well. Marjorie's daughter, Sandra Isbell Wiley Carlson, inherited the gown from her mother and kept it in her own dresser for years. Then, she cleaned and prepared it for her granddaughter, Adella May Dzitko-Carlson, born 29 October 1998, to wear it for her christening in February, 1990. Sandy Lee Carlson, Sandra's daughter and Adella's mother, had the gown and a christening blanket her grandmother found with it shadowboxed with photos depicting three generations of the family who wore the gown for their christenings. Top left, Allan John Howard Isbell (born 8 September 1911) and Marjorie Mary Isbell, Sandra Isbell Wiley (left) and her grandmother, May Louise Steen Isbell, and Sandy Lee Carlson with Adella May Dzitko-Carlson."
"Howard Steen and Mary Mills were married in the Dutch Reformed Church in Yonkers on 11 October 1886. Mary was born in Ireland and 1865 and emigrated to the U.S. with her parents in 1871. She and Howard would have four children -- Mary Louise, Louis, Lyda Grace, and Mildred Frances. Following Howard;s death in 1907, Mary Mills Steen trained to become a nurse and moved her family to Stamford, Connecticut. There, she would eventually become the private nurse of dry goods store owner C.O. Miller. Mary Mills Steen, known in the family as Granny Steen, would live until 1954, after being hospitalized at Fairfield Hills for dementia. My mother and grandmother remember her being a strict Baptist with a well-thumbed Bible."Collection
Isbell-Carlson CollectionClothing/Dress/Costume Details
Article of Clothing/Dress/Costume
Christening GownClothing Sex
UnisexMade/Created
Date made
1887Time Period
19th CenturyPlace
City
New York, NYRegion
NortheastContinent
North AmericaLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Gown, BaptismalNomenclature Primary Object Term
Garment, BaptismalNomenclature Sub-Class
Religious ObjectsNomenclature Class
Ceremonial ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsLocation
Location
Exhibit Room
Mill Manager's Bedroom Exhibit, Mill Manager's House Exhibit* Untyped Location
Main Museum BuildingCategory
ExhibitDate
November 18, 2024Condition
Overall Condition
ExcellentDate Examined
Nov 18, 2024Examined By
Eves, J.Provenance
Provenance Detail
The christening gown has been in the donor's family since 1887, and the blanket for several generations. The gown may have been made by the donor's great great great grandmother Mary Mills Steen. It was first used by Steen's daughter May Louise Steen Isbell at her christening in 1887, and has been used by several other generations of the same family.Created By
historian@millmuseum.orgCreate Date
November 18, 2024Updated By
historian@millmuseum.orgUpdate Date
November 18, 2024