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Sandra Rux, a well known museum and collections manager of two Portsmouth museums, will present a talk entitle ”Paisley in Portsmouth”, for the Piscataqua Decorative Arts Society on Tuesday, May 24th at Strawbery Banke Museum’s Tyco Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The lecture starts at 5:30 p.m., preceded by refreshments at 5. (Details below)

Ms. Rux’s interest in Paisley or Kashmir shawls, the ultimate accessory in the early to mid-nineteenth century, was sparked by portraits in an exhibit she curated at the John Paul Jones House in 2010. The women of the portraits are in fairly generic dresses, appropriate to the date painted, with accessories showing individuality and were likely chosen by the sitters.

The shawl’s pattern has a long history with a variety of unusual names such as: Persian pickles, Welsh pears, Mango seed, and as we know it today-- paisley. Sandra will show how it is possible to determine the shawl’s origins, be it India or Europe, answering the questions of how to tell them apart, how they made their way to this country, and how they were adapted to changing fashion.  

Sandra Rux is currently Museum Manager/Curator for the Portsmouth Historical Society, in Portsmouth, N.H. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in History from the University of Connecticut and Trinity College and a graduate of the Museum Studies program of the Munson Institute, Mystic Seaport Museum. She has written about nineteenth century carpet weaving for the Dublin Seminar for New England Folk Life, and for “Carriages and Clocks, Corsets and Locks”, a work on the industrial heritage of New Haven, Connecticut.

 The Piscataqua Decorative Arts Society is a nonprofit organization with a mission to promote original historical research resulting in publication. The primary focus is on the greater Piscataqua region of New Hampshire and Maine, with connecting links to Massachusetts and beyond. For more information, check the Web site CLICK HERE.