By Riley Fontana
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Dwight-Derby House has been hard at work creating its latest exhibit, the East Parlor. This project pays homage to Mary Derby and her in-home bonnet shop, where she worked creating and selling hats and bonnets to provide for herself and her family as a single mother.
The project is close to completion and ready to welcome new visitors, it should be fully completed by Spring 2025. The new exhibit was made possible by the Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund which provided a grant of $4,000 for this project. President of the Friends of the Dwight-Derby House Geoff Sauter is very proud of this project, and the entire house. “The number one responsibility is to preserve the house,” he said. “I want this to be respected as a museum.”
This room will be the first time the Dwight-Derby House honors one inhabitant of the house during a specific time period. The goal was to replicate Mary Derby and her Partner Julia Butterfield’s bonnet shop. “We didn’t know what she had in the room but we tried to pick what she may have had,” Sauter said on items in the room including a period-accurate women's work table.
The bonnets on display in the room are being designed and built by an artist in Virginia, who completes one bonnet every two months. The bonnets are heavily researched and the material is carefully picked out for each one. Mary Derby would have custom-made her bonnets to order for the women of Medfield. Medfield is famous for straw hat production, but the women opted for bonnets in all weather.
The Friends of the Dwight-Derby House would like to give a special thank you to Carrie Midura, the Coordinator of Households and Historic Clothing of Old Sturbridge Village, for her guidance in the design of the East Parlor. They would also like to thank Kim Olsen of Opportunities for Inclusion for modeling a 200-year-old silk dress the Dwight-Derby House recently received as a gift.
The Dwight-Derby House is excitedly anticipating the opening of the East Parlor for all guests. The house is open daily by appointment and can be rented for small functions, volunteers are always welcome to help with various projects. More about the Dwight-Derby House, and how to set up a tour, can be found on their website: https://www.dwightderbyhouse.org/. The Friends of the Dwight-Derby House offer a newsletter to stay up to date on all of their projects and events.
