Selections from the Collection
The Leila Old Historic Costume Collection, gathered from residents of Inland Northwest, alumni and friends of the university, reflects the clothing across lower, middle and upper class society in Idaho, in good times and bad, from around 1850 to the present.
Approximately 18,000 items are represented in the collection dating from the Civil War to the present time and a 8,000 plus lace collection donated by Kathleen Warnick and others. A majority of our pieces are related to Idaho and our university.
Leila Old began gathering and organizing clothing and textiles soon after she joined the faculty of the University of Idaho Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences (formerly Home Economics) in 1967.
Over time, Leila accumulated a very sizeable and valuable collection that included clothing, accessories, hats and shoes, costume jewelry, old magazines and other illustrative materials. These items were used as a teaching resource for the department.
With the help of student Marge Stanton, Leila began to organize and catalog all the dress items using the Robert Chenhall classification system.
The collection was officially named the Leila Old Historic Costume Collection in 1981.
