This is Americana — with strings attached

Saturday, June 17, 2000 | 8:45 a.m.

Aprons. For many, the image of the floral smocks wrapped around mom as she boiled peas and molded meatloaf in a steamy kitchen evokes nostalgia.

Others see aprons as a symbol of the idealistic "happy housewife." Some think of aprons and recall a memorable Thanksgiving dinner at grandmother's house.

Today aprons are history, an image from the past. As the role of women changed in America, so did the role of the apron. The decorative garments were eventually cast aside with little thought, tossed into the garbage cans or rag piles. Some traveled in plastic bags to the bins at thrift stores.

Years later, Joyce Cheney would forage for them. She'd study their use, their origins and create a touring exhibit, "Apron Strings: Ties to the Past," then publish a book, "Aprons: Icons of the American Home."

More than 80 aprons from Cheney's collection of 400 are on display at the Clark County Museum, 1830 S. Boulder Highway, in Henderson.

The trimmed and checkered smocks, portraying the fashionable colors of different eras, hang from makeshift clotheslines and adorn mannequins in the museum's small exhibit room.

"They're a historical icon," Cheney said. "The '50s were the heydey of the apron. The cloth was readily available and institutions were marketing and pushing the idea of family and of mom being home full time."

Cheney's book came out this year on Mother's Day. The national tour, sponsored by Exhibits USA, began in September 1998 and will end in August 2002 in Lansing, Mich. The exhibit at the Clark County Museum runs through Aug. 13.

Although the focus is on a garment that just decades ago was a common household item and can still be found in homes today, Cheney said she's received positive response.

"People liked it more than they thought they would," she said. "Some people get it right away."

Until the exhibit and book, most people hadn't thought much about aprons, she said. "Aprons are not going to be around a long time. I'm on a mission to save them."

Cheney's background in textiles and involvement in women's culture led her to pursue the apron mystique after she saw a display of aprons hanging between trees at a women's festival in the Ozarks.

She returned home and spent the next three days rummaging through thrift shops, buying whatever apron she could find.

There were two types of aprons, Cheney said: those that were purely practical and aprons that were fashion accessories.

The exhibit is set up as a time line, beginning with aprons worn at the turn of the century. Homemade aprons with Christmas designs are displayed along with more formal aprons used to match holiday outfits and dinner party dresses.

Women would cook in the kitchen in a practical apron, Cheney said, then change the apron to carry the food out to the dining room where the guests were.

Vintage magazine advertisements of the tall slender wife cooking dinner accompany the displays.

One apron reads, "How to keep your husband," followed with the advice, "Watch your weight," "Don't sulk," "Don't read his mail" and "Don't ever get mad."

On first glance, the display appears carelessly strewn in the small exhibit room, but walking along the time line, viewers have a chance to see the detail payed to the aprons.

Some aprons feature sequins, embroidery and netting. Some are crocheted. Others are made from dishrags and flour sacks and patchwork. Hostess aprons from the 1950s feature styles that are "all over the map (in design)," she said.

Red-checked apron chaps bordered with white lace are featured. A pop art apron is designed with florescent colors and the slogan "Mom's Diner ... Not Drive Through."

Souvenir aprons from California, Wyoming and Las Vegas are on display as well as Portuguese aprons, a Hmong women's apron from Thailand and humorous aprons, such as the terry cloth that states, "Queen of the kitchen."

The more familiar barbecue aprons found in stores today are also featured. Also featured are uniform aprons worn in diners or family restaurants. A small, plastic polka-dot apron worn by women in the Wonder Bread Factory is also displayed.

While some have seen the exhibit as a nostalgic journey through their own lives, a few critics were offended by what they saw as a display exalting women's oppression.

"Personally I spent about 20 years being an angry feminist," Cheney said. Rather than looking at the objects as if they were "prison uniforms," she views them as something women put their hearts into while in the boundaries that were available to them.

"Aprons say that women have had a primary role of taking care of the home," she said. "At various times of the century that role has taken on the genre of a profession."

Cheney said she expects most viewers will enjoy looking at the aprons.

"A stronger reaction is that it will pull up memories from their own life -- what their aunt wore at Christmas."

Then there are those who have no ties to the aprons.

At a retreat in New Mexico, Cheney had her collection displayed outside a dining hall. A mother and child approached to ask what they were.

"In the '50's aprons were ubiquitous and could be found in every home," Cheney said. "But in the '60s and '70s aprons started dying out."

By the early 1960s washing machines were available to most families and aprons were less important to protect clothes, she said.

Those wanting to match the aprons with the appropriate setting can peruse the townsite homes on exhibit at the museum. The homes are filled with 1940s and '50s decor. There is an apron in almost each kitchen.

Those who want to completely embrace the feeling can fish through the basket of aprons in the exhibit room that are available to try on.

Cheney's next exhibit features the textile work created by women from the Kuna Tribe in Panama, which goes on tour in September. The following project is "Cool Breezes: Fans of the 20th Century." Similar to the apron exhibit, the fans span the entire century beginning with early feather or sequined fans and ending with cardboard advertising fans seen at events today.