PITTSBURG — A Parsons native born at the turn of the last century who went on to become one of the wealthiest and well-known entrepreneurs in America will be the subject of a special presentation at Axe Library at Pittsburg State University at 7 p.m. on Oct. 10.
“Dress for Success: Nelly Don and American Fashion,” will be presented by Marla Day, curator of Kansas State University’s Historic Costume and Textile Museum in Manhattan, as this year’s DeGruson Lecture Series.
Held in partnership with Humanities Kansas, the event will include a Nelly Don exhibit of vintage Nelly Don clothing pieces.
Ellen “Nell” Quinlan Donnelly, known widely as Nelly Don, learned to sew for necessity: She was the 12th of 13 children. After graduating from Parsons High School, she married and moved to Kansas City.
As World War I raged in Europe, she built her business creating affordable, stylish clothing, and by the 1920s, the Donnelly Garment Co. was making more than $3 million in annual profits.
Groundbreaking for both her business acumen and her management style, she also survived a few scandals along the way.
In recent years, her fascinating story was rekindled when her great-great-nephew turned it into a documentary film, a book, a stage musical in Kansas City theatres and a movie called “Nelly Don, the Musical,” which played to sell-out audiences in Kansas City and Joplin, Missouri.
The Humanities Kansas presentation and exhibit are free and open to the public. The event is hosted by Pitt State Special Collections and Archives.
A reception with light refreshments will immediately follow.
The library is located at 1605 S. Joplin St. in Pittsburg.
About the DeGruson Lecture Series
The annual memorial lecture is an event sponsored by the Friends of the Leonard H. Axe Library to honor the memory of DeGruson, a Southeast Kansas scholar, writer, editor, and pioneering archivist and curator of Special Collections at Axe Library.
DeGruson founded Special Collections in 1968 and spent 29 years building it into a rich treasure trove of knowledge on local history as well as an archive for Pittsburg State University. He also wrote and edited books and journals of poetry, history and biography. He died in 1997.
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