This dress was part of a wedding trousseau owned by Elizabeth Richardson of Greenfield, Massachusetts. A trousseau is a collection of materials for a woman’s wedding and usually includes her dress, jewelry, shoes, veil, and other such items. Richardson was a teacher and just before the Civil War, she traveled south to teach. There, she became engaged to a young man. When he died in 1861, she came home to Greenfield. The dress is made of organdy, which is a light cotton fabric, hinting that she had hoped for a summer wedding.