RIVERSIDE — Carol Carlough’s collecting started with gloves 16 years ago.
“My daughter was getting married and wanted a Victorian wedding in our garden. I went to thrift stores to buy gloves for the bridesmaids,” she said of the wedding for daughter, Becky Crider of New York City.
Three years ago, she got into collecting aprons.
She had lots of pieces of vintage costume jewelry handed down to her by her late mother Dorothy Stephens who worked at Sherman’s Jewelry Store in Danville.
“One thing leads to another. I have been given most of my collection,” she said of gloves, aprons, handkerchiefs, hats, jewelry and dolls displayed throughout their Riverside home except for one room. “My husband said I can put them any place but the bedroom,” she said of their two-story home. Her husband, Bill, who has a chronic illness, “goes with me to the thrift stores, stays in the car and plays for the collection,” she said. He is retired as philosophy chairman and as dean of international education at Bloomsburg University.
She has 450 hats, 60 hat boxes, more than 1,500 pairs of gloves, 850 aprons, including 463 vintage and 387 gingham, 200 evening bags, 100 scarves, 200-plus fancy handkerchiefs and more than 1,000 pieces of vintage jewelry.
The Carloughs share their finds with others by hosting English teas. Those attending can wear the hats, gloves and jewelry for the day. “We’ve been to England many times. They are a traditional full English tea,” said Carol, who named their home at 410 Sunbury Road “Charlotte’s Tea Room” after one of their granddaughters.
They have help in putting on teas for all occasions including birthdays, anniversaries, bridal showers and children’s events. Reservations can be made for groups of 10 to 30 by calling 275-3435. The cost is $15 per person with everything homemade.
“I have three teas coming up and have done five so far,” she said of hosting Red Hat societies, sororities, a Sunday school class, a high school class and garden club.
Her collectibles are tucked around everywhere and include a stuffed bear she had growing up, oil lamps, mugs and a duster. “A month ago, a woman gave me her collection of 200 hats. I was thrilled to death,” she said.
She has hats of all kinds, such as fancy ones for afternoon teas and lunches and gloves to match, wedding hats, white straw hats and net hats called whimsies. Her oldest hat is probably from the late 1800s, with most from the 1930s through 1950s. Does she wear any of them? “No. I look terrible in a hat,” she said.
In the kitchen, she has a pair of beige gloves on display. She found a note inside them saying they were worn while shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy in 1960. “One of Becky’s friends is good friends with Caroline Kennedy. I said she could have them if she wants them,” Carol said.
Carol doesn’t wear the aprons in her collection either.
In what was Bill’s study are gingham aprons including one that can be converted into a bonnet, hat boxes and a gingham girl’s dress from the 1950s.
The family room is full of vintage aprons, dolls and hundreds of handkerchiefs. Some of the aprons are fancy shear ones worn by the cocktail party hostess, said Carol, who has researched the subject. One style is reversible and worn in the kitchen or the dining room. She has a pinafore apron, which is a square that is pinned on. “I have aprons that have been sent from all over the country,” she said. Many came from a relative who bought them on eBay. A recent one is a “Mama for Obama,” which was a gift.
A woman gave her hankies from the 1940s. “She was an RN at Geisinger and patients would give their nurse a hankie when they were discharged,” she said.
She has handmade baby clothes from 1934 and dolls from the 1940s of composite and plastic that would have sat on women’s dressers. One has a dress made from pipecleaners.
And yes, she regularly dusts everything.
-- E-mail comments to kblackledge@dailyitem.com.
News
Related Photos
-
Karen Blackledge/The Daily Item
-
Karen Blackledge/The Daily Item
-
Discussion
Riverside woman collects a little bit of everything
- News
-
-
State House enters second day of debate on gas drilling bill
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's House of Representatives is beginning its second day of debate on a bill to impose a fee on natural-gas drilling in Pennsylvania and toughen regulations over the booming industry.
-
Cases involving gas station drug sales advance to Montour County Court
DANVILLE – Three people charged with selling heroin and Oxycotin tablets during two separate transactions at a convenience store lot Jan. 2 will face court action.
-
Danville school options aired with borough council
DANVILLE — After borough officials pledged to work with school officials toward a decision on the flood-damaged middle school, council members voted not to give or sell any farmland it owns. The purpose of the unanimous action by the council Tuesday night was so the district knows that rumored option to move the school won’t happen. The borough owns a farm across from the Danville Primary School.
-
Five watershed projects receive $873,000 in state funding
NORTHUMBERLAND -- Five Valley watershed projects will get nearly $873,000 from the state Department of Environmental Protection, which announced funding for 73 projects to improve watersheds, stormwater runoff, acid mine drainage and educational programs, among other environmental efforts.
-
Dispute turns into gun threat, troopers say
After an argument in which his wife threatened divorce, William Warren Woolsey, 36, grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and told her to meet him in the bedroom, saying he would kill himself, state police at Milton said.
-
Mom allegedly beat toddlers with brush
MIFFLINBURG -- A 22-year-old Mifflinburg mother has been charged with beating her two toddlers with a hairbrush until they bled from abrasions all over their faces and bodies, state police at Milton said. The abuse came to light when Brittany Morgan Sullivan's parents came home and found the wounds on their grandchildren, according to police.
-
Commissioners give disabled Sunburian a chance
SUNBURY -- A 22-year-old disabled man asked the Northumberland County commissioners a life-changing question last week. "Can I have a job?" Giuseppe Bua, of Sunbury, was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a genetic disorder in which bones break easily. Sometimes the bones break for no known reason. The disorder also can cause weak muscles, brittle teeth, a curved spine and hearing loss.
-
Trucking firm to add 25 drivers
MILTON -- The president of Watsontown Trucking Co. said Tuesday that his firm will be hiring 25 truck drivers in addition to several diesel technician and management positions, all due to expansion. President Steve Patton said the company, which has been in the Milton Industrial Park since 2004, bought 14 additional acres in the park, adding 10,000 square feet of office space and maintenance facilities. Construction on the new space, he said, will begin shortly and is targeted to be completed by June.
-
Mayor wants trucks to help fund roads
SUNBURY -- Mayor David Persing is frustrated with truck traffic entering the former Celotex site on North Front Street, and he wants to do something about it. Charge an impact fee. Gas companies have paid millions to repair roads damaged by trucks in the Marcellus shale region, and Persing wants to levy a fee to compensate the city for damage to roads caused by trucks hauling drilling waste through the city. About $25 per truck per visit, he said.
-
18-year-old dies in truck crash on Routes 11-15
LIVERPOOL -- An 18-year old Selinsgrove man was killed when his pickup truck collided with a tractor-trailer on Routes 11-15 in Perry County.
-
Reactions to budget plan mixed
SUNBURY -- Reaction to Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2012-2013 budget came from all directions Tuesday.
-
Proposal alters school funding
HARRISBURG -- Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed steady funding for K-12 basic education in his $27.1 billion budget for 2012-13. But how school districts get their money will change as four line items will be combined into one block grant for most basic education funding. That has made for some debate about any actual increase to basic education.
- More News Headlines
-
State House enters second day of debate on gas drilling bill
