Items

• Pamphlet entitled, "Of Interest to Girls Who are Busy All Day"
  This pamphlet calls for potential applicants to the Domestic Science Program through the appeal to independence, such as being able to sew one’s own clothes and cook one’s own meals.
• 1904 Commencement Pamphlet
  The 1904 Commencement Pamphlet lists the graduates of the Normal Class in Domestic Science and the Normal Class in Domestic Art, presenting a disparity between the number enrolled and the number graduated. In just the dressmaking course, there were 254 students enrolled for the 1903-1904 academic year. Yet, there were only 14 graduates for the Normal Course in Domestic Science and Art in 1904. This disparity may help unveil what life was like for a female student: perhaps they could not complete a full year of education or take multiple classes, or they did not wish to be trained in education within the normal courses. Since Bertha E. Butts is believed to have been enrolled in the dressmaking training class, a course outside of the Normal Class in Domestic Science and Art, she is not included in the commencement pamphlet.
• Department of Domestic Science Enrollment
  The Domestic Science Enrollment presents a list of numerical data, tracking how many students were enrolled in each course, such as sewing, cooking, millinery, and dressmaking over the years.
• Special Circular No. 4
  This item details the course information of the various programs offered through the Department of Domestic Science, including the dressmaking training course in which Bertha E. Butts is believed to have been enrolled in. The Department of Domestic Science and Art was split into three sections: General Courses, Certificate Courses, and the Normal Courses, which were geared towards women wanting to become teachers.
• Bertha E. Butts Dress
  This item is a dress sewn in 1904 by domestic science student Bertha E. Butts (1882-1963) while enrolled in a dressmaking class. The dress is full length, with quarter sleeves, lace detailing, and buttons. When the dress was given to the RIT Archives, it was accompanied with a label written by the donor, Mary Helen Joint, Bertha’s niece. The note states that the dress was sewn for graduation, but it is unknown if it was celebratory or a graduation requirement. Nonetheless, the beautifully sewn dress demonstrates Bertha’s skill at her craft, a skill which led her into seamstress work in Sodus after graduation.
• Bertha E. Butts Scrapbook
  This scrapbook contains the instructions, pencil drawings, and textiles for Bertha E. Butts’s dressmaking process in her course.