You don't have to trek to Williamsburg, Va., to see two of the preeminent experts in their field.

Historic Rock Ford will host an 18th Century Historic Fashion Symposium on Sunday, Aug. 16, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Langmuir Education Room, located on the first floor of the Rock Ford Barn, 881 Rockford Road, Lancaster.

There is a fee to attend. Registration is highly recommended; tickets will be available at the door as space permits. Go to http://www.historicrockford.org/special-events.

The event will feature three lectures; a self-guided tour of the General Hand Mansion with the opportunity to see the 18th-century gown owned by Katharine Hand; and a catered dinner by Gourmet Julie's Way, with gluten-free and vegetarian options available.

Internationally recognized costume historians Angela Burnley and Brooke Welborn will be two of the speakers. Burnley will present "From Cottage to Factory: The Evolution of Textiles for Fashion in the Last Quarter of the 18th Century." Welborn will discuss "Cutting to the Figure: The Evolution of Mantua-Making in the Last Quarter of the 18th Century."

Burnley holds a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from the University of Cincinnati and founded historic textiles store Burnley & Trowbridge in 1994. According to Historic Rock Ford, "Burnley has spearheaded the many offerings of B&T, from the well-researched products to the hands-on and online workshops - all while pursuing her personal research in 18th-century textiles."

Brooke Welborn received a B.A. in Theatre from The College of William & Mary, with a focus on costume design and construction, and a minor in history. Historic Rock Ford said "she has continued to study independently the cut, fit and construction of 18th- and early 19th-century women's gowns and jackets in numerous museum collections; apply her knowledge in creating garments for customers and museums; and share the skills of 18th(-century) mantua-making with others as lead instructor and education coordinator for Burnley & Trowbridge."

Historic Rock Ford executive director Christina McSherry, who has a Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of Nevada, Reno, and is adjutant professor of anthropology at Franklin & Marshall College, will present "Katharine Hand: Discovering a Person Through Clothing."

"I'm going to be speaking about some of the clothing that we have related to Katharine Hand," McSherry said. "We do have one of her dresses in our collection, as well as some of her jewelry. I'm going to look at what it tells us about her, because we have actually so little references to her as a person, so I'm looking at what kind of pieces of clothing tell us about an individual."

One of Hand's dresses is regularly on exhibit at Historic Rock Ford. "In addition to the dress being on display, some of the photographs that were taken during the conservation of the gown show how it was put together," said McSherry. "We've blown those up, and we're going to have those in its place, so visitors who come for the costume symposium are going to see things that aren't normally on display, even in relation to Katharine Hand's dress."

McSherry met Burnley and Welborn at a workshop and relishes the opportunity to have them speak at Historic Rock Ford.

"We had this idea to try to do some more fashion presentations, and since they wanted to come up on the same day, we thought, 'Let's turn it into a little bit more of an event,'" said McSherry. "A lot of folks don't realize we have the (Katharine Hand) dress here, so we're able to pair their expertise and their presentations with a presentation and a viewing of a gown that people can't get unless they're here at Rock Ford. ... They're going to be talking about their areas of expertise. Angela Burnley is speaking about textiles in the 18th century, the actual cloth, and Brooke Welborn is looking at how the garments are put together, and she said she's going to do a demonstration of how they were put together during the presentation."

The presentations will provide an opportunity for visitors to get a unique glimpse of life hundreds of years ago. "It's an event that's going to let you know about something very personal in the 18th century," said McSherry. "Clothing is something that we relate to. When we do presentations on fashion, we get some of the strongest reactions because we all still wear clothing today. Whether the reaction is 'I would never want to wear something like that; it looks uncomfortable,' or 'That looks surprisingly comfortable,' or 'That looks similar to something we wear today' or 'That is so different,' you're getting a reaction out of people. People connect with it.

McSherry continued, "Being able to hear from these experts how the textiles were put together, what the textiles looked like, how the gowns were put together and also to view an actual historic gown and think about how that tells us something about the people is a really neat experience. It's going to be really exciting. Usually you have to go to Williamsburg to hear their talks, so I'm very excited to welcome them to Rock Ford, and I'm very excited to pair their presentations with something special from the Rock Ford collection."