The Objects of Family History: Eliza Bennett's Straw Wedding Bonnet

ABSTRACT

Family historians can provide a crucial foundation for the analysis of historical objects held in museums. They contributed in significant ways to an object-based study I conducted on colonial textile culture in mid-nineteenth century Aotearoa New Zealand. Here, I use the example of a straw bonnet worn in 1863 by a first-generation bride from an English migrant family to the settlement of Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington. It was handed down several generations before being donated to a regional museum in the 1970s. Who made it, how it was worn, and why it was kept, were by that time unknown fragments of family knowledge. Despite this, my analysis of the straw bonnet as a colonial object was enriched by family historians who were able to put a private, distributed family archive in conversation with related records held in the public domain. Fascinating manuscript material, self-published family histories, additional clothing and textile items, and priceless collections of glass plate negatives were brought to my attention. Through this case study, I suggest that the work of family historians is hidden in plain sight within academic and museological research practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Family historians
• material culture
• museum collections
• straw bonnets

Acknowledgements

I wish to offer my warmest thanks to the historians who assisted with this article: Marcia Baker, Beth Drummond, Simon Johnson, Marjorie Law, Cindy Lilburn, Margaret Tennant, Elizabeth Ward, and Geoff Watson.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Typescript from Marcia Baker, Christchurch. All quotes attributed to Eliza Bennett are from this source. Another version is held in Papers relating to the Denton family, c. 1913-2000, MS-Papers-10110-18, Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL), Wellington.

2 ‘Folded triangular shaped straw bonnet with ribbons’, 75/135/1, gifted by Mrs Dora Isabel Law, Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and Heritage (TMM).

3 ‘Bonnet basket, made of woven and plaited straw’, 75/135/2, gifted by Mrs Dora Isabel Law, TMM.

4 ‘Māori cloak, full length, covered with stripes of kiwi and tui feathers’, 488/15, gifted by Mrs Dora Isabel Law, TMM.

5 While Rose Bennett’s wedding hat has not surfaced, a crinoline dress that belonged to her was donated to the Manawatu Museum Society in 1978. Crinoline dress, 78/5, Gift of Mr Edward Blechynden, TMM.

6 Mary Ann Masters and Bennet Pascoe Perry, BDM Online, 1851/1409; Margaret Bevan and William Clark, BDM Online, 1854/1577; Mary Bevan and Joseph Greatbatch, BDM Online 1858/2308. For Sarah Masters move to the Lambton Quay premises of ‘the late Mr. Jackson’, see Wellington Independent, 12 May 1847, p. 2; Wellington Independent, 23 October 1847, p. 2.

7 Maori Messenger – Te Karere Maori, 6 June 1850, p. 4.

8 Taranaki Herald, 13 May 1871, p. 2.

9 Letter from Hannah Bennett to John Harding, 20 October 1863, transcribed by Beth Drummond, MS-Papers-6819, ATL.

10 Letter from Hannah Bennett to John Harding, 6 September 1856, transcribed by Beth Drummond, MS-Papers-6819, ATL.

11 Evening Post, 27 May 1891, p. 2; Evening Post, 5 June 1891, p. 2; Evening Post, 16 July 1891, p. 2.

12 Prof. Keith Thompson, ‘President’s Message’, Manawatu Museum Society Newsletter, no. 5, July 1972, p. 1.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fiona McKergow

Fiona McKergow completed a doctorate on mid-nineteenth century colonial textile culture at Massey University Te Kunenga Ki Pūrehuroa in 2020. She has co-edited two books: Looking Flash: Clothing in Aotearoa New Zealand (Auckland University Press, 2007) with Bronwyn Labrum and Stephanie Gibson and Te Hao Nui—The Great Catch: Object Stories from Te Manawa (Random House, 2011) with Kerry Taylor.