Nineteenth Century Burial Dress

• Three cast iron coffins from South Louisiana contain amazingly well preserved garments from 1850s male and female burials and provide an unprecedented research opportunity

• Textile remains from the other burials have been more fragmentary

Mid-nineteenth Century Cast Iron Coffin Burials

Garments from 1850s Louisiana burial

• Embroidered chemisette

• Embroidered undersleeve

• Waist band on petticoat

• Cloth shoe

Alice Taylor, 1840-1859

Burial garment fragments from chemise and nightgown and detail of trim on ruffled yolk of nightgown

Col. Lewis DeRussy, 1795-1864• Detail of red brocade on waistcoat fabric

• Porcelain buttons and fabric button holes from waistcoat

•Col. DeRussy

• Late 1850s man’s white waistcoat from LSU Historic Textile and Costume Museum, believed to be similar to the one worn by Col. DeRussy