Catherine Allsop Griswold Explained

Catherine Allsop Griswold was a corsetmaker whose 31 apparel-related patents played a role in the Dress Reform Movement of 1876. Griswold had the most patents held by any woman in the United States of America at the time.^[1] Among Griswold’s apparel-related patents, was the skirt-supporting corset.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Griswold created more than 30 corset designs^[5] to better serve wearers from as early as 1866.^[6] 19 of the patents were related to improving the comfortability of corsets for women by adjusting the mechanical design.

One of her most notable innovations was a corset that had skirt-supporting ribbons, which helped distribute the weight of heavier skirts over the entirety of a woman’s body and allowed for women to be less fatigued and have a greater range of movement.^[7]

When Griswold was resident in New York, the Worcester Corset Company manufactured her designs.^[8]

In 1893, Griswold's skirt-supporting corset won an award^[9] when it was featured at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where it appeared along with other dress-reform items including a bust supporter by Olivia Flynt and another reform corset by Emmeline Philbrook.^{[10] [11]}

A Madam Griswold's corset from 1876 is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[12]

Notes and References

1. Stanley . Autumn . 1992 . The Champion Of Women Inventors. Invention & Technology . American Heritage . 8 . 1 . 25 June 2024 .
2. News: 1974-11-18 . Earliest liberated women called Connecticut home . 2024-04-10 . The Day . 21.
3. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/programs/19th-amendment-centennial/toolkit/suffrage-timeline/ Suffrage Timeline
4. Web site: Greathouse . John . 7 Female Innovators Who Created 218 Inventions—Decades Before Women Could Vote . 2024-04-23 . Forbes . en.
5. Book: Love, Suzi . Corsets Overview History Notes Book 14 . 2021-06-17 . Suzi Love . en.
6. Book: Stanley, Autumn . Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology . 1995 . Rutgers University Press . 978-0-8135-2197-8 . en.
7. Web site: 2021-05-22 . The Inventive Minds of Connecticut Women: Patents in the 19th Century . 2024-06-25 . Connecticut History a CTHumanities Project . en.
8. Khan . B. Zorina . October 2000 . "Not for Ornament": Patenting Activity by Nineteenth-Century Women Inventors . The Journal of Interdisciplinary History . 31 . 2 . 159–195 . 10.1162/002219500551514 . 0022-1953.
9. Ping . Laura J. . September 2018 . Throwing off the "Draggling Dresses": Women and Dress Reform, 1820-1900 . PhD . City University of New York .
10. Book: Knight, Kate Brannon . History of the Work of Connecticut Women at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 . 1898 . Hartford Press . en.
11. Book: Cunningham, Patricia A. . Reforming Women's Fashion, 1850-1920: Politics, Health, and Art . 2003 . Kent State University Press . 978-0-87338-742-2 . en.
12. Web site: Madam Griswold's Corset American . 2024-06-25 . The Metropolitan Museum of Art . en.