"there are hair cloth trunks which will give forth costumes of past generations"

“With rich local history surrounding every American village or country, it is a great pity not to make your own pageant and present to the people pictures from the pages of their own living history which shall give to every child present some understanding of his goodly heritage. The local history of every village is so related to the national history that it is possible to gather outstanding facts of the town history and give them a national significance. There are always old people who can tell you what happened in their grandfather’s time. There are further sources of information to be found in church records, town records, old diaries, old account books, even; and sometimes a chronicle of events compiled by some local historian is available. There are attics which contain spinning wheels, quilting frames, candle moulds; there are hair cloth trunks which will give forth costumes of past generations; there are woodsheds in which lie dusty vehicles. All these can help to make vivid many an event of long ago.” -- "The Historical Pageant in the Rural Community" by Abigail Fithian Halsey published in the Cornell Extension Bulletin, June 1922, Issue No. 54, Publishedby the  the New York State Collegeof Agriculture at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York