A new exhibit is opening soon at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum which highlights the creative ways materials were used — and reused — decades ago.
Melanie Wier, assistant curator of the facility in West Branch, says the exhibit called “Thrift Style” demonstrates the ingenuity of past generations and how they can offer a lesson for today’s efforts towards sustainability.
“People would upcycle the flour sacks to make clothing,” Wier says. “They would make bags, dolls, quilts, just any household need that they had, they would use the fabric from the feed sacks to make things out of.”
The exhibit features more than 40 items made from feed, flour, and sugar sacks. Wier notes, they’re not just light brown canvas or cotton fiber, either.
“The thing that’s interesting about the flour sacks from the World War Two era is that manufacturers would pattern the fabrics so that it was more fun and easier for people to make things out of,” Wier says. “They would also send out patterns and tutorials to help seamstresses and homemakers create these fabulous items.”
The exhibition offers a nostalgic view into American sensibility and optimism during a challenging time of economic hardship. Plus, Wier says the outfits were far from shabby.
“They look amazing, especially some of the dresses,” Wier says. “The apparel that’s shown, very nice, very well made, and it’s a little different from some of the items we have in our collection that are World War One era but don’t have that same printing on the fabric.”
The exhibit offers visitors a unique connection to Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover, as they led massive food relief efforts in Belgium and France during World War One, feeding more than nine-million people per day.
“People learned how to do more with less, and it just kind of instilled in them that importance of recycling or upcycling and just using what they had,” Wier says. “It shows that it was just as important to reuse or use what you had as recycling is today.”
The exhibit opens October 21st and will run through the end of April, 2024. The library and museum is open daily.