The Fowler Family Gets Dressed: Frontier Paper Dolls of the Old Northwest Territory

It is autumn in the Ohio Country of 1790. The Fowlers have survived their first year settling on the East Fork of the Little Miami River. This morning finds them dressing for the work day. They must hurry to complete their chores early, as by late afternoon they will journey three miles by foot to attend a cornhusking and dance in their neighbors’ new barn.Their day becomes even busier when Father’s friend Jonathan, a frontiersman, and Nipawi Makwa and his family come to call just before the noonday meal.The culmination of many years’ research, The Fowler Family Gets Dressed is as breathtaking as it is painstaking in its portrayal of Old Northwest Territory costume and culture. Aimed primarily at the upper elementary and middle-school audience, the work complements the holdings of museums and historic sites throughout the nation as well as primary source materials from the Ohio Historical Society Library and other archives. Norma Lu Meehan’s watercolor illustrations bring frontier clothing and artifacts to life in exquisite and accurate detail, and reflect the rich cultural exchange between the native Shawnees and newcomers to the Old Northwest Territory.