Docents

"DRESSED UP DOCENTS"

My husband has long referred to those of us who conduct tours at the Johnston House as the "Decent Docents". Well now we've become the "Dressed Up Decent Docents". Here's how it all began.

During open house Saturdays we would sit in the house imagining the comings and goings when the house was in its heyday. That led to speculation about the clothes being worn 150 years ago, and how fun it would be to wear clothing of that period. We were amazed to discover that docent Judy Wormal studied historical dress in college - an expert in our very midst. Before we knew it, we were buying patterns and material and choosing our outfits. We spread out patterns and fabrics on the big dining room table during open house and found many visitors extremely fascinated by the new project. Finally we began actually cutting out the fabric and doing bits of handwork as folks streamed through the house. It gave a whole new topic of interest and education for the tour as we were questioned about styles, laundry habits, fabrics, etc.

Finally it was time to actually begin putting the dresses together. We set up a weekly sewing day at my house with Judy at the helm. She studied the patterns and gave us clear instruction. K.C. Simmons who had never sewn before, got behind a sewing machine and sewed her heart out, loving every minute. Joyce Margaroli stuck with hand work. Beth Bryant, a brand new docent, pitched in. Mary Bettencourt, out of town, worked on her dress at her cabin. Ken Ayers researched finding a silk top hat similar to Mr. Johnston's in the upstairs display case.

My outfit happened to be the first one finished and I tried it out at an open house. Mine is a "going out" dress complete with full hoop. My family came to see the first showing of the dress. First reaction was that I looked as if I had gained 100 pounds. (We're not doing corsets, but can see why they needed them.) My youngest grandson was fascinated by the hoop skirt and before I knew it he had scampered underneath mine and thought it was a great hiding place. Maybe that's why they wore pantaloons. K.C.'s outfit was finished next and we both conducted a tour in costume and were well received, with lots of questions about our dresses. Hers is the "at home" style, which only requires a petticoat. Judy wore hers during the next open house, complete with hoop, which she ended up showing to many visitors who wanted to see what a hoop looked like.

Our plans for the historical costumes include strolling Main St. during Night of Lights to let folks see what goes on at the House on the Hill. On the third Sat. open house days, we plan to have a couple docents in costume visit Flower Market and hand out invitations to the house. We'd like also to enter the July Fourth Parade and invite any with suggestions for a float to contact us. We also think entering our outfits in the San Mateo Fair would be a nice spreading of the Johnston House story with invitation to come visit. We've worked hard on these dresses but think we'll get a lot of mileage from them as we wear them to help history of the house come alive.