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Spanish lady Halloween costume, 1922

Source: Wisconsin Historical Museum object #2003.29.1

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Front of the Halloween dress, 1922

Front and back views of the “Spanish Lady” costume showing the addition of an extra tier of cloth at the bottom from a later modification. Source: Wisconsin Historical Museum object #2003.29.1

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Back of the Halloween dress, 1922

Source: Wisconsin Historical Museum object #2003.29.1

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Virginia Shaver poses as a "Spanish Lady", 1922

Virginia Shaver poses as a “Spanish Lady” near a gate in her family’s backyard in La Crosse, Wisconsin on October 31, 1922. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society Archives 1994/207

'Spanish Lady' costume worn for Halloween by Virginia Shaver in 1922.
(Museum object #2003.29.1)

For Halloween in 1922 14-year-old Virginia L. Shaver of La Crosse, Wisconsin, decided to dress up as a "Spanish Lady." To do this she took a printed tan silk dress her mother Gertrude Shaver had made in 1917 and modified it for her needs. First Virginia added black lace to the skirt, neckline, and sleeves, as well as a triangular black lace insert into the neckline; she then tied a green silk sash artistically around her waist. Finally Virginia put a large celluloid tortoiseshell comb in her hair and draped it with a black lace shawl reinvented as a mantilla. After getting all dressed up, she had her photograph taken in her family's backyard.

Virginia would not have gone trick-or-treating, since that tradition did not appear for another decade. Instead she probably went to a neighborhood party where highlights might have included apple bobbing, eating pumpkin pie, and hayrides. The tradition of Halloween parties originated in the late 19th century, as the holiday evolved from a night to scare away spooks and demons to one more about community and neighbor get-togethers. By the 1920s some communities even had parades and citywide parties.

After Virginia wore her mother’s dress as her Halloween costume, she appears to have modified it yet again by adding a third tier to the bottom of the dress to make it floor length and by changing the neckline. The sewing at the alterations is rather sloppy indicating Virginia was probably still wearing it as a costume. Whether she intended it to remain a "Spanish Lady" costume or not is a mystery.

The practice of sending children door to door asking for candy did not begin until the 1930s. With increased urbanization and poverty during that decade, damage and vandalism by youngsters on Halloween night had become extensive. Cities and towns across the United States, looking for ways to have a "safe" Halloween, hoped that by encouraging children to ask their neighbors for candy they could distract them from vandalism. The term "trick or treat" did not appear in print until 1938.

[Sources: The History Channel website; the Neopagan.net website]

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Posted on October 27, 2005