The Masterpiece

Alöisia Woschkeruscha's masterpiece, 1912

Alöisia (Luise, later Louise) Woschkeruscha, my maternal grandmother, apprenticed at Frau Elise Vogel's dressmaking salon in Vienna,  from July 1, 1906 through July 1, 1909

She received her beautiful "diploma," the Lehrbrief, shown in the last post, A Pock-marked resume, signed by both Vogel and the Director of Vienna's Dressmaker's Collective (union or guild), and was now declared to be a Gehilferin, an assistant, like moving to the "Journey-woman" stage. She was now certified or "licensed," to work in any  dress shop. She stayed on as Frau Vogel's assistant in her Viennese Dress Salon.

The director of the Dressmakers' Association also noted in Louise's Arbeitsbuch  that Louise had successfully completed her apprenticeship. The Arbetisbuch entry (below, right) was important, because that is the "resume" she'd show to potential employers, rather than the huge (about 12 X 17) diploma (Lehrbrief).

Detail: notice rosettes surrounding top of high-neck
and overlapping material festooned with tiny bows.

Louise worked in Frau Vogel's dress shop for the next three years. 

In 1912, Louise created her Masterpiece, the dress pictured above and in the close-ups.

sleeve detail
Note flowered fabric

Elegant and detailed, her gorgeous dress shows off the wide range of skills she had acquired in six years of training. 

The material she chose is flowered. She continues the flower theme in the rosettes that edge the high collar. Pearls are festooned down the chest which is V-framed in what appears to be lace. Pearls splash the peaked waistband.  I'm no seamstress, so I'm not even sure how to describe the tucks and overlaps that appear on the bodice, sleeves, and neckline. Every detail testifies to her creativity, workmanship, and eye for beauty. I have little doubt it was the finest in the class, as Louise always contended, but her dress was awarded second place. According to Louise, first place had to go to the mayor's daughter. 

Elise Vogel's
Recommendation

If Louise's description of a "competition" is accurate, then other young women from her class must have also stayed on to complete their training in the Vogel Dress Salon as "Journey-women."

Because this photograph/pencil drawing (an artist penciled in detail to the original photograph) is dated 1912, it had to have been created at the very end of her work with Frau Vogel, who then wrote a Zeugnis, "Recommendation" into Louise's Arbeitsbuch (resume book), shown right, on page 13. Louise left the salon on February 2, 1913,  and Elise Vogel wrote her recommendation a month later, on March 1, 1913. 

Date of Departure [from salon]
2/4/1913

Recommendation:

The undersigned confirms herewith that Miss Luise Woschkeruscha, from the date of entry [noted as 7/1/1909]  to this date, six years,  has worked very industriously and has also learned to beautifully tailor jackets, coats, bodices/corsettes, [and] skirts so that this young woman is recommended to any [dressmaking] Salon and has conducted herself to the fullest satisfaction in every respect [for this] recognition.

Marketplace, Leobersdorf, near Vienna
E. Vogel
Dress salon
Leobersdorf on the first of March, 1913
Signed by Elise Vogel.

Louise must have already had her plans in place to leave for America when this recommendation was written, for in less than two weeks, that's just what she'd do. 
Next week: Louise takes her skills to Chicago.

A pock-marked resume

Woschkeruscha Family, Leobersdorf, Austria, 1901
 L-R Therese, Alöisia (Louise), Hans (later John Miller)
 Johann

The story of my mother’s family began with my maternal grandmother’s mental breakdown during the “happiest days” of Lillian’s life–as she made wedding preparations for her marriage to my dad in the summer of 1942. (See More than I could stand.) 
I first introduced my maternal grandmother last year at this post for Women’s history month, 2012:  Dressmaker Extraordinaire. There you’ll find cool details which I will summarize here. Alöisia Woschkeruscha, was known casually as Luise in Austria (Louise, later in America).

Louise's Arbeitsbuch

Louise was born on May 4, 1896, in Wiener-Neudorf, Austria. Her family later moved to the small town of Leobersdorf, about twelve miles south of Vienna, where she grew up. Before her brother, Hans/John was born in 1892, Louise had a younger sister. Both girls, I believe under the age of five, contracted smallpox. As they burned with fever, dimpled pustules covering their little bodies, their father, Johann, ran through the night to fetch a doctor, but it was too late for Louise’s younger sister. She died of the disease.

Who knows whether that loss propelled her father, Johann, into a depression, feeding his alcoholism and abusive behavior toward his wife and son, Hans, about whom I wrote in the last post. (Anger begets anger). Louise survived, but her face was pitted with deep pox scars. Louise was painfully self-conscious of her marred appearance and forever thought of herself as ugly because of her facial wounds.

Louise's Arbeitsbuch, pg 1

Even Louise’s Abeitsbuch (literally her “Work-book,” a kind of resume and identification document), was a bitter reminder of her ruined skin. On the first page, left, she’s described to be of medium stature, with grey eyes, and dark-blond hair. Her face is described as "longish," and her nose and mouth are "proportional." 

But it’s the “noticeable marks,” entry that makes me cringe. It's filled in with "pox scars!"  I'm horrified by the casual cruelty of this basic document––the shame Louise must have felt every time she presented her work history/ identification. 

  

Elise Vogel's Dressmaking students, Vienna sometime between
1906-1909; Louise, 4th from right, standing; Frau Vogel, seated

Louise Woschkeruscha, age 20-23
Detail from dressmaking school photo

Louise decided to study dressmaking. Was it her self-perception that drove her to want a career, thinking that no one would marry a woman with a pitted face, and she would need to make her own way in the world? Perhaps she was just ambitious and wanted a career. Whichever is the case, she discovered she had immense talent.  

The Lehrbrief, below, translates to "apprentice certificate," but it actually is like a diploma and recommendation, declaring that Louise has finished her apprenticeship. The translation was tricky because so many words are from another era, so I originally thought it was the start of her apprenticeship. My friends in Germany helped me get it straight.  You can see the beautiful details of this document, including a naked couple in a hot tub (!)(upper right)  at Dressmaker Extraordinaire, where you'll also find photos of her crocheting and embroidery samplers, which Louise created at about age eleven).

Her completion of this first phase of her dressmaking studies was also entered into her Arbeitsbuch. Both the Lehrbrief and Arbeitsbuch are signed by the same woman: Elise Vogel, her dressmaking instructor, for whom Louise worked for another three years before creating her "masterpiece."

Next week:  A peek inside Louise's Arbeitsbuch at the end of her work for Elise Vogel in 1913, the photo of her 1912 Masterpiece, and details of Frau Vogel's recommendation.  

Alöisia Woschkeruscha's Lehrbrief-like a diploma 7/1/1909

I-Gene Awards 2012-And the winners are...

Thanks to Jasia, at Creative Gene for once again hosting the annual I-Gene awards, an opportunity for the genealogy blogging community to look back over the past year and salute each other's best posts in five categories. Here are my choices for Family Archaeologist for 2011 Let the awards begin!

Best Biography: Dress Designer Extraordinaire My maternal grandmother, Aloisia Woschkeruscha, earned a dressmaker diploma in Vienna, Austria. In honor of Women's History Month last year, I posted a brief biography of her, accompanied by this photo of Aloisia posing in her graduation masterpiece.

Best Comedy: Going to the Dogs My trip to Romania in 2007 confirmed my grandfather's warning: It's a bad idea to name a girl "Linda!"

Best Documentary: It has to be the series of my paternal grandmother, Lisi's, journey to America as recorded in her diary from Transylvania to New York. It begins when she ships her trunk to America: Farewell, My Homeland, and continues with her Train Journey (Part I), then onward to the Port of Bremen, Train Journey Part II-To Catch a Ship. On board the steamer, Kaiser Wilhelm II, it's Lisi's Moveable Feast and From Ship to American Soil until, finally: Central Park, NY "I've Arrived!"

Best Screenplay, a love story:  Falling in love––70 years ago My mother's diary of meeting and falling in love with my father begins with this post on October 11, 2011, and unfolds in a weekly series over the next several months (it's ongoing even now on this blog), as she pours out her heart in these "engaging, sweet, and vivid entries, full of hope and promise." If you ever were madly in love, this serial "screenplay" will take you right back to that emotional high.

Close up from above photo: Josef Gartz, age 23. 1912

Best Picture: Joe Nelson's Saloon, 1912. Free Sandwich with that Beer! My grandfather, Josef Gartz, finally landed a decent-paying job at this saloon, at Crawford and Madison on Chicago's West Side. And it came with food! This photograph of an early 20th Century saloon, with my grandfather (background, above, and close-up, right)  at age twenty-three, is a classic. It's the oldest one we have of Josef after his arrival in America in January, 1911. My grandmother's letter, in which she references this job, is included with the post and brings their monetary struggles to life.