Neville Public Museum New History Exhibit – Guns & Gowns: 200 Years of Fashion and Firearms.

Over the past 200 years, the fashion and firearms industries have transformed. Dresses have gone from elaborate silhouettes using yards of fabric, to slimming and short designs. Guns evolved from a single shot sparked by flit, to automatic rifling.

What sparked these changes? Technology, Politics, and Society.  All three were catalysts that directly affected designers, inventors, and consumers in these industries. 

From the American Revolution to the Vietnam War, explore two centuries of fashion and firearms and the trends that defined each era.

“I am thrilled that after a year and a half of research, planning, fabrication, and
installation Guns & Gowns opens to our community on Saturday,” said Lisa Kain,
Curator of the exhibit. “I’m excited to share these artifacts with our visitors. Guns &
Gowns might seem like an odd paring but, as you’ll see in the exhibit, their evolutions
mark big changes in society.”

Open to the public on October 26, 2019, Guns & Gowns features twenty historic gowns and forty firearms from the collection of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County. Guns & Gowns will be on display until January of 2021.