Deerfield Academy, a private boarding school located in Old Deerfield, possesses a rich collection of American art, ranging from colonial American portraiture to early 20th-century modernism. This exhibition highlights significant works of art from the Academy’s collection, many of which have not been on public view for decades.

This exhibition will explore the enduring interest in clothing our bodies to achieve fashionable shapes. It will feature twenty-five ensembles from the 18th to 21st centuries drawn predominantly from Historic Deerfield’s renowned clothing collection. Displayed along with the historical garments will be the understructures – stays, corsets, hoops skirts, and bustles – that helped shape, exaggerate, or reduce bodies to fit fashionable ideals.

The exhibition highlights both published and unpublished material from the Alleys’ collection, showing how these objects reveal varied techniques and ornament as well as the characteristics of the environment in which they were made.

Witness the discoveries being made and the mysteries we’re encountering as we unpeel the layers of the c. 1799 Stebbins House! Visit 16 different stations throughout the first floor, encountering panels that describe what we’re discovering and what questions we’re asking of the building.