author
Claudia Brush Kidwell
A longtime Smithsonian curator and costume historian, she explored what clothing can reveal about identity, culture, and everyday American life. Her work helped turn dress history into a vivid way of understanding the past.
1 Audiobook
Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States
by Claudia Brush Kidwell
About the author
Best known for her decades at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Claudia Brush Kidwell built a career around showing how clothing connects to social history. She began at the museum as an intern in 1961, returned as a curator after completing her studies, and went on to shape exhibitions and research on American costume over many years.
Kidwell studied at the University of Maryland and earned a master's degree from Pennsylvania State University in clothing and textiles. Her writing focused on the meanings carried by dress, from everyday garments to changing ideas about gender, power, and public appearance.
She also took on leadership roles at the Smithsonian, including serving as acting director of the museum in 1979. Remembered as both a scholar and curator, she helped generations of readers and museum visitors see fashion not as decoration alone, but as a rich record of American life.