Yes, Cora Ginsburg has done so much for us historically! She and the Rockefellers with their preservation of Colonial Williamsburg are truly amazing. Love your details here that help flesh out the background of this lovely gown. Cora’s legacy is a lasting one that benefits so many. I am off to check if there is a book about her. If not, there should be:)

Laura,
From what I could discover the Indianapolis Museum purchased the dress from Cora Ginsburg of New York. Cora and her husband were art dealers. Cora worked with her husband Benjamin Ginsburg at his family’s antique firm Ginsburg & Levy after the second World War. The antique firm was located in Manhattan. The firm had customers like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Henry du Pont, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Electra Havemeyer Webb and Ima Hogg, who made acquisitions for themselves and for museums.
Cora donated valuable costumes and textiles to museums. Cora was the buyer of textiles, needlework, ceramics, silver and bras.In 1982 her husband retired. In 1982 Cora opened her own gallery called Cora Ginsburg, Inc. In 1997 she sold the gallery to Titi Halle.
You May enjoy visiting this site: http://coraginsburg.com/

Thank you so very much Laura for allowing me to join you on this fun journey! I’ve really enjoyed sharing about your lovely cover art for The Lace Maker! It was fun to find where the dress was at, and to discover more photos of the dress. I would love to be able to see it in person at the Indianapolis Museum (I live only 2 hours north of the museum). Unfortunately it is not currently on exhibit.

I had to sneak back and share the link to your wonderful post for those who’d like to take a closer look at the gown on the cover of The Lacemaker –
https://joyofreadingweb.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/cover-reveal-the-lacemaker-by-laura-frantz/
Thanks so much again, Trisha!

Hey neighbor :). You’re on my bucket list! And I’m so happy both covers appeal to you and are on your to-read radar. You bring a blessing every time I see you, Karen. Heartfelt thanks!

Dear Connie, Love that you lived in Yorktown and know that area so well – it will greatly enhance these books, I’m sure! When I last visited CW, I was happy to find the dressmaker/millinery shop bursting at the seams with visitors, no pun intended:) And the staff were so gracious and answered my questions, even bringing out a gown they were making for the reenactor Martha Washington. I can’t wait to go back! Thank you for taking time for our books and thereby helping celebrate our amazing history like you said. Amen!

Paula, I’m so glad it’s one of your favorite times in history, too. I’ve heard the ‘sweet spot’ in historical fiction is the latter 19th-century (1870 or so and the American west, especially). But thankfully readers like you are helping bring colonial fiction into the market by reading our books. I can’t thank you enough for that!

Trisha, Love that you’ve been there from the first with your savvy dress post! What a joy that is to share! Which reminds me that I need to ask the art team for details on their end as I find it fascinating that this museum gown ended up on a book cover. If we only knew the real woman in history who wore it! But maybe that makes it extra intriguing :).

I feel the same about Jocelyn’s books – her first in this series, The Mark of the King, was superb! I can’t wait to meet her lacemaker. She does such in-depth research that I know her lacemaking theme will be top tier, too:) So appreciate your prayers as we juggle so many things this summer. You have mine, too, Cindy.

Heather, How beautifully you say that – embrace the similarities. Thankfully, yes! I remember when Joanne and Kristy’s circus themes came clear and my first reaction was dismay then delight. And they were so gracious! I remember what another author said to me several years ago, that you can give the same story idea to 12 different novelists and they’ll create a truly unique work with their own personal stamp. So true! But what’s more important is just what you said – lifting each other up in the process, something that makes Christian fiction so fulfilling!!