DRESSED FOR A SOCIAL CALL

The woman on the "Brown's Vermifuge Comfits" card is in the privacy of her own home. It would have been socially unacceptable for her to have appeared this way in public.

The card below shows a woman paying a call on an ill friend. How does her "street dress" differ from that of the woman shown on the "Brown's Vermifuge" card?

Catalogue information for this card

From the shape of her upper body, we can see that the visiting woman on this card has her corsets on, for one thing. She is also wears a tailored dress, while the woman on the previous card wears a dressing gown, probably over her nightgown. And the vising woman shown here has a hat on - something no proper lady of the time would leave home without. Notice that the woman she is visiting is not wearing a hat. A similar contrast is shown in the "Parker's Tonic" and "Carter's Iron Pills" cards.

The invalid shown on the card above has been made comfortable in the outdoors. Sun and fresh air were considered valuable treatment for some illnesses, especially tuberculosis. Hospitals of this era sometimes even moved their patients outside, still in their hospital beds.