Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
Historic Treasure of the Week -
June 19, 1983
By Albert Light
Vigo County Historical Society
When men’s shirts had stiff collars
The historical treasure of the week is a man’s collar and collar box.
Much has been said of the whalebone corset and the bustle as tortures the 19th century woman had to endure for fashion’s sake.
But let us stop to consider the male of the era.
There was that fiendish device known as the “Starched Collar” that must be worn by the well-dressed gentleman.
The shirt of that time had a half-inch band around the neck to which was attached an incredibly stiff collar by means of two small studs called collar buttons.
These collars came in different styles and heights. The more formal one folded back in wing tips. They were stored in a shaped, round box; the collar buttons were stored in a small box atop the larger.
On Saturdays, when men paid visits to their local barbers, many brought their collars with them to be laundered. The barbers, in turn sent the collars to the laundry for the customer.
For some reason, the Chinese laundry was thought to do a better job than some of the others. There was one located on Ohio Street between Fifth and Sixth on the north side of the street.
I have inspected some of these collars and can understand why the men of that period always looked so stiff and formal: They were afraid of slicing their necks on the sharp edges.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.