How do you get the clothes that you wear each day? Perhaps you wear hand-me-downs, or get them from a store—maybe you order clothing that comes to you from another place. Maybe you even make clothing yourself, cutting fabric and sewing it together. Today, clothing can come from many different places—and in the 19th century, things were not as different as you might think.

Here in Hartford, Samuel Clemens and his family purchased both clothing and the materials to make clothing—they even brought clothing to be mended, or repaired, so that they could wear it for longer. The family took several articles of clothing—some caps, cloaks, and coats—to be repaired at Strong & Woodruff (355 Main Street).

On the same street, they also purchased new things. From William H. Bulkeley’s Main Street store, they purchased 2 pairs of gloves. At the 364 Main Street shop Haynes & Simmons, they purchased some new red boots and slippers, as well as new buttons and trimmings to re-make other clothing they already owned. Up Main Street a little further, at Brown, Thompson & Co., they once purchased 56 yards of cotton—that’s over 150 feet of fabric! It’s possible that they bought this fabric for the family’s ladies’ maid, Katy Leary, to sew nightgowns, chemises, and petticoats. She would’ve done this sewing on a Singer Sewing Machine, a company that is still well known today—her sewing machine was purchased at 5 Allyn House Block, right here in Hartford.

But with Katy Leary having other work to do in the Clemens’ home, she couldn’t have sewn everything the family needed—so they went to local dressmakers and tailors, such as RF Martin at 374 Main Street. The family paid for the fabric and the labor of having 2 dresses, a drape, and a cape made.

But what about ordering clothing? If there was something they couldn’t get in Hartford, or perhaps had a larger variety of options elsewhere, they might look at a catalog and place an order—just like you might look at a catalog or browse a website today.