“Fabric, Stories, and Memories” is a monthlong series of speakers and events hosted by the William Trent House Museum on Market Street in Trenton. The first event of the season, held March 1, was “The Stories Fabrics Tell: An Illustrated History,” hosted by local storyteller, reenactor and seamstress Leslie Bramlett.
The William Trent House Museum, built in 1719 and run by the city of Trenton, is a historic landmark surrounded by 2.5 acres of orchards in the heart of the capital city.
Samuel Stephens, executive director of the Trent House Association, who helped organize “The Stories Fabrics Tell,” said, “We want to engage our communities in telling their own stories. So that’s a part of what this is about.”
Bramlett said of the event that she has a passion for teaching and finds that “dressing up as the characters in [history] books or the people in the biographies gets kids to read,” and become engaged in history on a deeper level.
She said, “If a student reads a book about Rosa Parks or Ida B. Wells or Martin Luther King Jr.,” that may catch their interest and she tries to take it from there.
At the event, she moved through centuries of history, showing visual aids including the historically accurate garments she wore and made herself.
She described how, in the 1600s, regardless of status, most people wore two to five outfits at most. She showed a corset and skirts so wide they could barely fit through a doorway.
One attendee was Dr. Diane Campbell, former dean of students at Mercer County Community College, who also serves on the board of the William Trent House.
She said, “What drew me here was the chance to listen.” She explained that she enjoys looking at fabric and that she related to the topic because she sews, too.
Stephens added, “We are looking for programs that have a resonance with our community. Because of the topic, the era, the people it’s talking about and so much more.”
