Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 6, 2013).
"Masters Program in the History of Decorative Arts."
Faculty advisor: Jennifer Van Horn
Summary:
This thesis will be a case study of nineteenth-century New Orleanians' use of iron balconies and crinoline cages to create feminized spaces as they grappled with an evolving social order and the blurring of public and private space in the city. Simultaneously, women employed these metallic material enclosures to protect their femininity from incursions by those of other races and classes while also seeking to overturn cultural mores and to grasp more social and economic power the urban environment. The similar function of iron balconies and crinoline cages as enclosures of feminine space provides an unusual intersection between architecture and fashion which can broaden our historical understanding of women's experience in a nineteenth-century urban center. A variety of forms of evidence will be examined in this thesis namely material, visual, and textual: the built environment, including balconies, building designs, and public squares; paintings, satirical prints, and cartoons; physical evidence including women's costume such as crinoline cages; documentary sources, including diaries, letters, and advertisements. Through a close examination of crinoline cages and iron balconies, this thesis will explore how critical conflicts of Victorian America - class, race, and gender- were negotiated using material artifacts in the context of New Orleans.
