Victorian Women in Geology: "Not The Least of Her Problems Was Her Clothing"

The caption from this photo of women in geology, Trowel Blazers, early #womeninscience, students at Mt. Holyoke (viva Seven Sisters!) circa 1900, reads and I quote because it's right on for this blog about the material culture of 19th-century lady naturalists, "Not the least of the budding female scientist's problems was her clothing, which did not lend itself to the freedom of movement necessary for participation in field classes." 

[Historical problems for women in geology: travel and gear.]

"The geologist who wishes to study rocks is faced by a major problem: Rocks must be studied in the field and the best outcrops have the nasty tendency to be located in difficult terrain, in desolate landscapes, in narrow gorges and steep mountains -- and because the mountain doesn't come to the geologist, the geologist has to travel to the mountain." 

Zonia Baber, geologist, suffragette, and teacher, and Scientific American's first Pioneering Woman in Geology
is "one of those people you aspire to be and fear you will never manage to become even half as good as."

Via the Victoria and Albert Museum here's what was in Victorian fashion for women in 1900. It wasn't geologizing. It wasn't moisture-wicking.

It was "the S-bend corset...It thrust the hips backwards and forced the chest forward into a fashionable pouter-pigeon shape, emphasised with puffed, frilly blouses that were often embellished with decorations like lace collars and ribbon ties. Separates were popular, with skirts fitted over the hip and fluted toward the hem. Hair was worn in a centre parting, often looped around pads and false hair to create a wide 'brim' of hair around the hairline. This hairstyle was worn under vast, broad-brim hats with low crows, and adorned all over with flowers, lace, ribbons, and feathers."

Oh, phew, separates were popular.  I will be wearing separates for my 19th-century lady naturalist cosplay (join me on Victorian Natural Historian). 

But what's a pouter-pigeon?

The silhouette.

The bird.
(from Prideaux John Selby, The Natural History of Pigeons, 1835)

Neither are useful for geologising in.  What's useful for geologising in is a snappy beret and a full skirt thank you very much for modeling it below, Dr. Gertrude Elles. You rock. 

Photo credits: 

http://www.mtholyoke.com/pcsite/photos/images4/Geology01.jpeg

University of Chicago Photographic Archive, [apf1-00303], 
Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Sedgwick Museum Archives