Kachin ensemble

Unknown designer, Myanmar

CFTC #282a-c

Gift of Charity Carman

Mandalay ensemble

Unknown designer, Myanmar

CFTC #286ab

Gift of Mrs. Lena T. Case

From 1937 to 1939, Blackmore purchased several ensembles from two American Baptist missionaries stationed in Myanmar: Mrs. Lena T. Case and Chastity Carman. Both of these women attended Cornell’s School for Missionaries in 1937 and 1939 and later donated three complete ensembles of either Mandalay or Kachin women’s, men’s or children’s dress to the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection. The Mandalay ensemble consists of a luntaya acheik (wrap skirt) and blouse, while the Kachin ensemble consists of a wrap skirt, black velveteen jacket, anklets, waist hoops, and shoulder bag. The first ensemble was worn by Mrs. Case while working on agricultural development in Pyinmana located just outside the city limits of Mandalay, whereas the Kachin ensemble was worn by an Indigenous person who Carman had come in contact with while working at the American Baptist Paku Carman School in Toungoo. Case and Carman’s interest in collecting, documenting, and circulating Myanmar dress demonstrate the ways in which missionaries served as amateur ethnographers and contributed to the West’s understanding and perception of Southeast Asian dress practices.