The Story Behind the Dress at the Christa McAuliffe Library

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FRAMINGHAM – Years ago, Christa McAuliffe Library Assistant Director Kim Jung saw a photo of a dress on display at another library. She has been waiting to re-create something similar in Framingham, said Framingham Reference Librarian Julie Morocco.

This was the year.

Their masterpiece of a dress is on display the Christa McAuliffe Library on Water Street in Framingham this month for Women’s History Month.

“We’ve been waiting for March to roll around again, so that we could create this,” said Morocco to SOURCE.

The dress is made from recycled clothing and recycled card stock, that feature famous women from the past and today.

“Under all the paper is actually my coworker Sarah’s prom dress, which was strapless,” explained Morocco. “Under that, it has my grandmother’s shirt.’

“Then all the different pieces are just glued and taped to each other to complete the dress,” explained Morocco.

Much of the project is re-purposed and re-used, so that it is a sustainable project, explained Morocco.

All the photos of famous women are printed on “recycled card stock someone had donated,” said Morocco.

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The first row of women on the dress all have ties to Framingham.

That row includes the library’s namesake Christa Corrigan McAuliffe, inventor Margaret Knight, artists & sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, and Ruth Wakefield, who created the chocolate chip cookie.

The other layers of the dress are famous women throughout history, including authors, scientists, musicians, etc.

“I made a spreadsheet and send it out to everyone saying, nominate people you think we should put on the dress,” said Morocco. “We got lots of feedback.”

The nomination all came from Framingham Public Library staff.

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Other than the top row of Framingham, Morocco said she didn’t think to put certain women on the front or facing the children’s department.

Morocco started creating the dress in February. She said it took her a couple of weeks and more than 20 hours to complete the dress.

The dress was officially installed on March 1, and adjacent to the dress is a collection of books.

Morocco said the feedback from library patrons was almost immediate.

“People have been really excited about it. It’s fun to see them walk in and it’s not something that’s usually there, so you kind of stop and just look at it. And then it ties into our display, which is all a lot of our books about women on the dress,” said Morocco.

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