Have you ever heard of a “calico dance?” What is calico? And what is a “calico dance?”
Calico is a type of printed fabric, usually cotton, used for an everyday dress and “calico parties” were introduced in 1855 in New York City as a benefit for the poor.
Women were encouraged to wear a dress that would later be donated to a church or mission. If the invitees were “obliged to decline, it is hoped that the dresses will appear to represent them.”
A month after the New York City party in 1855, the New York Times reported a number of copy-cat dances as far west as St. Louis.
Over the next 50 years, churches, schools, women’s clubs, service organizations and charities across America held parties to help raise funds for school or church bells, musical instruments, books, clothes and food for the needy and the poor. In 1892 a St. Paul, MN newspaper listed the rules for the dance, “The ladies appear in calico dresses and the gentlemen in calico vests … In addition to the neckties worn by the gentlemen to match the dresses of the ladies … a calico handkerchief [will be provided by the ladies] for use in the [dance].” As late as 1900, the Amory in Aurora, Illinois posted these rules, “No lady was permitted on the dance floor or in the supper room without a calico gown and the men were obliged to wear calico shirts and ties or pay a fine.”
Naperville held at least three known Calico Parties, though it is unknown what charity benefited from the dances. The dance cards from Collection 82 are from the same dance, February 13, 1888, and from the same family, most likely brother and sister Emma and John Nadelhoffer. Dance cards were filled with the names of dance partners for each dance – every third dance was “Ladies Choice.” Emma and John danced the 20th dance of the evening, the Newport.
