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Library
It is 31 December 1952 and the family have been invited to the
annual Hogmanay Ball by the Dumfries Chamber of Commerce.
Father, mother and daughter are just gathering their bags,
gloves and coats and prizes for the raffle are sitting ready under
the chair.
Costumes on display
On display are lovely examples of 1950s evening dresses. The
daughter's dress, made around 1950, consists of black,
machine-made, cotton lace over black taffeta with flower
decorations made from sequins and beads and pink nylon "horsehair"
rosettes with pearlised edges.
The mother wears an evening dress of black, machine-made net,
with wide shoulder straps.
Furniture and paintings
Several prints hang on the walls, all connected to the Stewart
family. A portrait of Captain William Stewart (1879 -1930) hangs
over the fireplace, commissioned from David Alison in about 1913.
On either side of the fireplace hang portraits of William Craik of
Arbigland (artist unknown) and his wife, Elizabeth Stewart of
Shambellie, by William de Nune, painted in the 1740s.