The photograph above of Mary Sandburg was taken in Bishop Hill, circa 1900. She taught school in that community for about three years. She participated in local theatricals and made many friendships while living there. She  boarded in the homes of several families while in the village.

Mary was chosen by her parents to attend high school because she had better grades than her younger brother Carl. Her diploma enabled her to seek employment as a teacher. Carl was expected to go to work at menial jobs and bring money into the family treasury. Mary contributed a good proportion of her salary to the family as well.

Mary is dressed in typical Gibson Girl style with her long hair piled on top of her head. Her blouse has ribbon trim around the neck and on the sleeves with fullness of fabric in the shirtwaist. The skirt has more ribbon trim around the waist and down the sides of the skirt. A ruffle at the bottom has more ribbon trim on it. It would have taken a great deal of time to sew the costume as well as being expensive to apply the ribbon trim. It was a “best” dress.

Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) was a graphic artist who created “The Gibson Girl” in 1890. She was always young, beautiful and exuded femininity. He continued to draw her in all kinds of social situations for the next thirty years. His depictions illustrated magazine articles and novels.

The Gibson Girl swept the country at the turn of the century. The unauthorized use of the pen and ink images were used to decorate dishes and other small items. Entire books of the sketches were published. Families purchased the books and kept them on the marble top table in the parlor. They also purchased framed pictures of her to hang on their walls.

Some of the sketches had an ironic tone. For example, one showed several young women with their pompadoured hair-dos, examining a miniature man on his knees under a magnifying glass. One girl is holding a hat pin, perhaps to pin him down as an exhibit or perhaps to puncture his ego.

Gibson also created sketches of married couples which were very romantic. He also expressed irony in a scene of a young wife and a much older husband in which the light of love has gone out.

It was his belief that the women of America were beautiful because of the mixture of people who had emigrated to the United States. He expected it to continue. And so it has, although not in the ways or from some of the countries which he would have anticipated.