Outerwear, Suits, and Separates

The papers in the Claire McCardell collection span the years from 1923 –1995. The materials consist of letters; newspaper and magazine articles, advertisements, and pictures of clothing; date books; passports; business correspondence; notes and manuscript drafts; and books published by and about Claire. The collection has been arranged in five series by types of material.

The bulk of the material consists of newspaper and magazine clippings of articles, fashion spreads, and advertisements featuring Claire or her designs. These mainly cover the period from 1940 – 1958; however, there are also obituaries, memorials, and retrospective articles spanning the dates of 1958 – 1995. The majority of the correspondence consists of letters Claire wrote to her parents during her studies at Parsons and in Paris, and in the subsequent years when she lived and worked in New York. Correspondence also includes Claire’s business correspondence and fan mail (1936 – 1958), and her family’s correspondence relating to her affairs and legacy after her death (1958 – 1995). The collection includes a sizeable amount of professional ephemera from various exhibits, retrospectives, and awards, and personal ephemera including mementos from her time in Paris. The collection’s publication materials include a Claire McCardell paper doll set, notes and drafts of Claire’s 1956 book “What Shall I Wear?” and numerous pattern publications.

When acquired, the collection consisted of a number of notebooks of material organized by topic by the McCardell family, as well as a large amount of material accumulated over time and not filed in an order significant to the collector. As a result, the collection has been arranged by subject matter, and all notebook materials are noted as such on file folders and have retained their original order. Among those who are known to have contributed papers to this collection are Claire McCardell, her parents Adrian and Eleanore McCardell, her brothers Adrian and Robert McCardell, her colleague Adolph Klein, and book authors and exhibit curators Kohle Yohannan and Nancy Nolf. Some preservation copying has been done for deteriorating newspaper and magazine items, carbon copies, and letters with mold damage. Additionally, notes on non-archival paper attached by the McCardell family to documents have been photocopied and filed together with the documents.

The Claire McCardell Collection offers materials of interest to researchers of women’s history, fashion design, American fashion of the 1930s-1950s, and notable women of Maryland.