With their collection of vintage clothing busting at the seams, the Rochester Historical Society members decided to dig out some of their best pieces for their yearly exhibit.

The new exhibit places a heavy emphasis on wedding dresses and formal wear from 1880s to the 1940s, including wedding photos and marriage licenses when possible.

Edyie Johnson contributed her parents’ wedding clothes to the display. Although she’d often seen her mother’s ivory dress, everyone assumed her father’s tuxedo was long gone.

But after her mother passed away five years ago, Johnson said she discovered her father’s tuxedo tucked away among her parents’ belongings. “It had been in that bag since 1938. We never knew the tux was there,” she said.

Married in 1938, her parents, Sigrid Ahlberg and Gustaf Johnson, met in New York City and got married in the Finnish church in West Wareham, where Ahlberg’s parents had settled.

The new couple built a home in Rochester where their daughter still lives today.

Johnson included excerpts from her mother’s wedding diary in the exhibit.

“This is the greatest day in our lives, and what the future will be, is what we make of it,” wrote Ahlberg.

Johnson said, “She kept wonderful records, and in her records she said she paid $17 for her gown and $13 for her veil.”

The exhibit also features a black wedding dress from 1885 worn by Lucy Mendall and donated by her great granddaughter Lucy Fearing Tahtinen, a number of formal pieces donated by John Hall, and several dresses handmade by Margaret Benner in the mid-20^th century.

For Rochester residents, many of the names in the exhibit will be familiar. Two garments  on display were worn by Marion Fraser Hartley, more commonly known as Grandma Hartley in Rochester.

One piece is a petite silk wedding dress, demonstrating how small the school teacher was. Another dress, with an accompanying photo, is from a vignette performance Hartley did.

According to Betty Beaulieu, vintage garments, many used in theater productions, can be found in attics all over Rochester.

Rochester resident Kate Tarleton, a textile conservator, specializes in repairing such garments and helped the society set up much of the exhibit – examining the details on each piece to determine the era and fabric.

“She went through the collection, dating it and adding all the descriptions,” said Beaulieu.

Johnson, who wore one of her mother’s dresses for the exhibit opening, said she loved the details on the vintage garments.

“I would wear the dresses today. They’re timeless.”

The museum is located at 355 County Road.