(Courtesy photo) An example of the wedding dresses that are in the Nashua Historical Society's upcoming exhibit.

Ask any parent who has experienced that hectic, stressful and often emotional stage of life known in medical and psychiatric circles as “planning my kid’s wedding” should be grateful they didn’t have to fulfill that obligation in one tiny corner of the world a century ago.

For instance, if you were a mom with one or more daughters and happened to be living on a faraway island called Madura, then part of the Dutch West Indies that is now Indonesia, you’d be expected to undertake the task of creating your daughters’ bridal gown strictly by hand – beginning with a base of hand-woven silk.

Not so bad, one might think; after all, most of us know someone who has made their own, or their daughter’s, wedding gown with a combination of hand work and the sewing machine.

But according to this little piece of history tucked in a vintage Nashua Telegraph back in 1923, to do the job right took these dedicated moms an average of six years from weaving the base of silk to the thousands of tiny stitches that must be embroidered into that silk – and of course working in the hand-beaten gold that signalled near-completion.

And oh – Maduran moms had only a few years to begin stitching their daughters’ gowns, for Maduran girls traditionally married quite young – 12 being the average age. Still single at age 14 earned the girls “old maid” status.

(Courtesy photo) Examples of wedding gowns that are part of the Nashua Historical Society's upcoming bridal fashion exhibit, which will be open to the public Sept. 10-11 and Oct. 8-9.

An amusing little tale, indeed. But right here in Nashua is a far more interesting story – actually, a compilation of stories – looking back through a century and a half of local bridal fashion history, stories that are just waiting to be shared.

Looking forward to doing just that are Historical Society board members and volunteers Janice Fronko and Paula Lochhead, who, as the exhibit’s curators, have spent countless hours in the society’s “textile room,” a space they share with storage boxes, a furnace and shelves of paperwork and items, some of which look like they haven’t been touched in decades.

Still, Fronko and Lochhead cheerfully made enough space in which to inspect artifacts, take notes and search for answers both online and by turning the pages of vintage city directories and other research books.

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IF YOU GO

(Courtesy photo) An example of the wedding dresses that are in the Nashua Historical Society's upcoming exhibit.

Nearly two years in the making, the Nashua Historical Society is unveiling its unique exhibit titled “And the Bride Wore … A Showcase of 150 Years of Nashua Bridal Fashion” to the public.

WHEN: 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 10-11, and Oct. 8-9

WHERE: Nashua Historical Society’s Abbot-Spalding House Museum, 1 Nashville St.

HOW MUCH: Free for members; $10 each non-members, $12 if paid by credit/debit card

MORE: Exhibit curators Janice Fronko and Paula Lochhead will present a program on the dresses from 1-2 p.m. Sept. 10 and Oct. 8 in the Speare House Museum, 5 Abbott St.

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In addition to their presence at the Abbot-Spalding House Museum, Fronko and Lochhead will present two one-hour programs from 1-2 p.m. on both Saturdays in the society’s Speare House Museum, next door to the Abbot-Spalding House at 5 Abbott St.

The exhibit, titled “And the Bride Wore … A Showcase of 150 Years of Nashua Bridal Fashion,” has long been in the planning stages, having initially been scheduled as part of the society’s multi-faceted 150th anniversary celebration. But COVID-19 had other ideas, forcing the postponement and in some cases, cancellation, of events that had been planned for the celebration.

Fronko, meanwhile, said one of her favorite research projects involved a particular wedding dress that came very close to being packed up with other deaccessioned items and sent off to auction.

“We’ve always called this dress the ‘Gage wedding gown,'” Fronko said, adding that she was eventually able to flesh out the name “Mrs. Edwin Gage,” and reasonably presumed the dress belonged to Mrs. Gage, whose birth name was Julia Wallace, the daughter of popular downtown Nashua druggist Austin Wallace.

So upon learning the mystery dress was about to go to auction, Fronko stepped in, reasoning that although it had been just sitting in storage for years, the dress was steeped in Nashua history and too valuable to be let go.

Then came something of a breakthrough regarding the dress’s owner. It was not Mrs. Edwin (Julia Wallace) Gage, but Susan Wallace – Julia’s mother and Austin Wallace’s wife – who owned, and was married in, the dress in 1876.

Fronko said she found that sometime after Susan Wallace’s death in the 1920s, her daughter Julia, who was quite active in civic affairs – including a longtime member, and later president, of the Historical Society- took possession of her mother’s dress, and it ended up at the Historical Society.

“Everybody knew her, so I guess they didn’t see the need to document it,” Fronko said of Julia and the dress. So at the society the dress remained, and thanks to Fronko and Lochhead, is now one of the showpieces of the society’s bridal exhibit.

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.