Nelly Don Ready-To-Wear from Kansas
Women In Business in USA
I had never heard of Nelly Don until a few months ago while researching women in the fashion business in the teens and twenties USA. I came across her obituary while on a Kansas-State Historic Costume and Textile Museum website (read below) and now learned there is an exhibition having to do with the Handy Dandy vintage apron.
Friday, October 10th, 2008
An historic Nelly Don apron makes its debut when the Kansas Museum Association meets Oct. 29-31 in Manhattan. The vintage apron, called a Handy Dandy, was donated recently to K-State’s Historic Costume and Textile Museum.
Justin Hall, which houses the collection, is the entrée course stop for the progressive dinner that opens the conference. The Handy Dandy and other garments in the museum’s Nelly Don collection will be on display. Since the exhibit in 2007, an additional 12 new Nelly Don designs have been added.
Nelly Don apron Designed and manufactured by the famed clothing company in Kansas City, the apron was patented around 1925. Millions sold and the production of the Handy Dandy helped keep the factory open during the Depression. A seamstress never had to remove the apron from the machine while stitching, according to Marla Day, senior curator of the museum. The Handy Dandy wholesale cost was $6.50 a dozen.
“It’s in excellent shape for an apron,” Day said. “The museum has been looking for one some time now and especially since aprons usually wear out.” The museum, a conference sponsor, has a growing collection of women’s clothing produced by the Kansas City company.
Kansas-born Ellen Quinlan Donnelly Reed, who adopted the moniker Nelly Don from her garment label, was a pioneer in the clothing industry and a political force in mid-20th century Kansas City. The Donnelly Garment Company factory was the largest dress manufacturing plant in the world in 1949, making her one of the first female self-made millionaires in American history.
“Nell was at the helm of one of the most influential garment companies in the U.S. She designed and sold more dresses in the 20th century than any other single person in the nation. With her dresses, she challenged the Mother Hubbard garb worn by women of the late 1910s,” Day said. “Her garments offered style, quality, fit and fine workmanship at moderate prices.”
The keynote speaker for the Kansas Museum Association conference is Dan Holt, former director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.
The Kansas Museums Association’s purpose is to promote museums and to provide leadership, advocacy and training for everyone interested in Kansas museums. The non-profit group is affiliated with the Mountain-Plains Museums Association of the American Association of Museums.
The Historic Costume and Textile Museum is part of the Department of Apparel, Textiles and Interior Design.
Watch: (click on link for UTUBE video clip)
Nelly Don: A Stitch In Time UTUBE video clip from film
Remember Nelly Don page 1
(Read more about Nelly)
Remember Nelly Don page 2
(Read More about Nelly)
Remember Nelly Don page 3
(Read More about Nelly)
Pioneer In Manufacture of Women's Attire
Nell Donnelly Reed dies at age 102
September 11, 1991
By LENA WILLIAMS
Nell Donnelly Reed, a pioneer in women's ready-to-wear clothing in the 1920's and 1930's, died Sunday morning [1991] at her home in Kansas City, Mo. She was 102 years old.
In 1916, Mrs. Reed began making and selling ruffled dresses to replace the drab, cotton house dresses of the period. By the 1940's her clothing company was described as the largest of its kind in the world.
Mrs. Reed said her frilly designs under the Nelly Don label helped challenge conventional thinking of pre-World War I America that it was impossible to give style to clothing in the cheap price range. Her first dresses sold for $1, considerably more than the average price of 69 cents. Savvy in Business
Mrs. Reed was described by Fortune Magazine in 1935 as possibly the most successful businesswoman in the United States. She was considered one who was ahead of her time, being among the first business leaders in her city to offer paid group hospitalization for employees and an unlimited number of tuition-paid night courses and scholarships for their children at local colleges, according to The Kansas City Star.
Through her business, the Donnelly Garment Company, a $3.5 million business with 1,000 employees in 1935, she helped turn Kansas City into a thriving ready-to-wear manufacturing center. Her first husband, Paul Donnelly, a representative for a Kansas City shoe company, acted as the head of the garment company in its early days, but she assumed full control when they were divorced in 1932.
In 1931 Mrs. Reed was the subject of national headlines when she and her chauffeur were kidnapped at gunpoint outside her home and held for ransom. The $75,000 ransom went unpaid and the two were released unharmed 32 hours later. Two men received life terms for their part in the abduction.
The prosecutor in the kidnapping case was James A. Reed, a former United States Senator and former Mayor of Kansas City, whom she would later marry. Mr. Reed, who served three terms in the Senate, from 1911 to 1929, died in 1944. Company Name Changed
The 12th of 13 children, Mrs. Reed was born Ellen Quinlan on March 6, 1889, and grew up in Parsons, Kan., where her family had moved from County Cork, Ireland. At age 16, she married Mr. Donnelly and moved with him to Kansas City.
She said she began adding frills to house dresses so she could "make women look pretty when they are washing dishes," she once said.
The rapid growth of her company in the 1930's brought efforts by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to organize her plant, but despite legal maneuvers that reached the United States Supreme Court, her company was still union free in 1948.
Mrs. Reed retired from her company in 1956, and it changed its name to Nelly Don Inc. The company went public in 1958, but eventually filed for bankruptcy.
After her retirement, Mrs. Reed continued her involvement in business and civic affairs in Kansas City, serving on the school board and boards of numerous social and cultural institutions, including the Kansas City Art Institute and the Midwest Research Institute.
She is survived by a son, David, and four grandchildren.
I had never heard of Nelly Don until a few months ago while researching women in the fashion business in the teens and twenties USA. I came across her obituary while on a Kansas-State Historic Costume and Textile Museum website (read below) and now learned there is an exhibition having to do with the Handy Dandy vintage apron.
Handy Dandy Press Release
Photo of Handy Dandy apron courtesy of the Historic Costume and Textile Museum
Costume museum to debut historic Nelly Don apron
K-State Historic Costume and Textile MuseumFriday, October 10th, 2008
An historic Nelly Don apron makes its debut when the Kansas Museum Association meets Oct. 29-31 in Manhattan. The vintage apron, called a Handy Dandy, was donated recently to K-State’s Historic Costume and Textile Museum.
Justin Hall, which houses the collection, is the entrée course stop for the progressive dinner that opens the conference. The Handy Dandy and other garments in the museum’s Nelly Don collection will be on display. Since the exhibit in 2007, an additional 12 new Nelly Don designs have been added.
Nelly Don apron Designed and manufactured by the famed clothing company in Kansas City, the apron was patented around 1925. Millions sold and the production of the Handy Dandy helped keep the factory open during the Depression. A seamstress never had to remove the apron from the machine while stitching, according to Marla Day, senior curator of the museum. The Handy Dandy wholesale cost was $6.50 a dozen.
“It’s in excellent shape for an apron,” Day said. “The museum has been looking for one some time now and especially since aprons usually wear out.” The museum, a conference sponsor, has a growing collection of women’s clothing produced by the Kansas City company.
Kansas-born Ellen Quinlan Donnelly Reed, who adopted the moniker Nelly Don from her garment label, was a pioneer in the clothing industry and a political force in mid-20th century Kansas City. The Donnelly Garment Company factory was the largest dress manufacturing plant in the world in 1949, making her one of the first female self-made millionaires in American history.
“Nell was at the helm of one of the most influential garment companies in the U.S. She designed and sold more dresses in the 20th century than any other single person in the nation. With her dresses, she challenged the Mother Hubbard garb worn by women of the late 1910s,” Day said. “Her garments offered style, quality, fit and fine workmanship at moderate prices.”
The keynote speaker for the Kansas Museum Association conference is Dan Holt, former director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.
The Kansas Museums Association’s purpose is to promote museums and to provide leadership, advocacy and training for everyone interested in Kansas museums. The non-profit group is affiliated with the Mountain-Plains Museums Association of the American Association of Museums.
The Historic Costume and Textile Museum is part of the Department of Apparel, Textiles and Interior Design.
Watch: (click on link for UTUBE video clip)
Nelly Don: A Stitch In Time UTUBE video clip from film
Remember Nelly Don page 1
(Read more about Nelly)
Remember Nelly Don page 2
(Read More about Nelly)
Remember Nelly Don page 3
(Read More about Nelly)
Pioneer In Manufacture of Women's Attire
Nell Donnelly Reed dies at age 102
September 11, 1991
By LENA WILLIAMS
Nell Donnelly Reed, a pioneer in women's ready-to-wear clothing in the 1920's and 1930's, died Sunday morning [1991] at her home in Kansas City, Mo. She was 102 years old.
In 1916, Mrs. Reed began making and selling ruffled dresses to replace the drab, cotton house dresses of the period. By the 1940's her clothing company was described as the largest of its kind in the world.
Mrs. Reed said her frilly designs under the Nelly Don label helped challenge conventional thinking of pre-World War I America that it was impossible to give style to clothing in the cheap price range. Her first dresses sold for $1, considerably more than the average price of 69 cents. Savvy in Business
Mrs. Reed was described by Fortune Magazine in 1935 as possibly the most successful businesswoman in the United States. She was considered one who was ahead of her time, being among the first business leaders in her city to offer paid group hospitalization for employees and an unlimited number of tuition-paid night courses and scholarships for their children at local colleges, according to The Kansas City Star.
Through her business, the Donnelly Garment Company, a $3.5 million business with 1,000 employees in 1935, she helped turn Kansas City into a thriving ready-to-wear manufacturing center. Her first husband, Paul Donnelly, a representative for a Kansas City shoe company, acted as the head of the garment company in its early days, but she assumed full control when they were divorced in 1932.
In 1931 Mrs. Reed was the subject of national headlines when she and her chauffeur were kidnapped at gunpoint outside her home and held for ransom. The $75,000 ransom went unpaid and the two were released unharmed 32 hours later. Two men received life terms for their part in the abduction.
The prosecutor in the kidnapping case was James A. Reed, a former United States Senator and former Mayor of Kansas City, whom she would later marry. Mr. Reed, who served three terms in the Senate, from 1911 to 1929, died in 1944. Company Name Changed
The 12th of 13 children, Mrs. Reed was born Ellen Quinlan on March 6, 1889, and grew up in Parsons, Kan., where her family had moved from County Cork, Ireland. At age 16, she married Mr. Donnelly and moved with him to Kansas City.
She said she began adding frills to house dresses so she could "make women look pretty when they are washing dishes," she once said.
The rapid growth of her company in the 1930's brought efforts by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to organize her plant, but despite legal maneuvers that reached the United States Supreme Court, her company was still union free in 1948.
Mrs. Reed retired from her company in 1956, and it changed its name to Nelly Don Inc. The company went public in 1958, but eventually filed for bankruptcy.
After her retirement, Mrs. Reed continued her involvement in business and civic affairs in Kansas City, serving on the school board and boards of numerous social and cultural institutions, including the Kansas City Art Institute and the Midwest Research Institute.
She is survived by a son, David, and four grandchildren.
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