Series V: Vanderbilt Ball

Series V comprises the bulk of the Costume Ball Collection; included are more than 150 portraits of attendees in costume for the fancy dress ball given by William K. and Alva Smith Vanderbilt in their newly built home at 600 Fifth Avenue on March 26, 1883. At the time, the ball was considered to be one of the most "lavish" in New York City's history. It featured guests dressed as courtiers, witches, royalty, godesses, and opera and nursery rhyme characters. Quadrilles were performed by guests dressed according to particular themes.

Included in this series are photographs of members of many of the elite families of New York, including the Astors, the Belmonts, and the Vanderbilts. Portraits in this series are almost exclusively the work of Mora, and include a variety of that studio's fanciful backdrops and props. The hostess, Alva Smith Vanderbilt (later Alva Belmont), is portrayed as a Venetian princess with a palatial background, surrounded by flying doves. Constance Rives Borland, dressed as a bee with protruding wings and antennae, is set against a convincing woodland background, and Grace Stebbins Chapin seems to dip her hand into a flower-strewn pond. Caroline Seward Endicott stands in a faux snowstorm with her hands tucked into a fur muff. Most of the photographs in this series bear brief identifications on the verso, and some also identify the costume or the quadrille in which the individual was featured.