(upbeat music) -[Narrator] Inside Nebraska Wesleyan's Elder Theater Center, actually, underneath is a whimsical wardrobe wonderland.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) -[Julie] There are about 1000 linear feet of rec space, 1500 linear feet of shoe space.

We have items from as early as maybe the 1880s, all the way through to contemporary pieces.

We have maybe over 70,000 pieces, we don't know for sure.

We don't have them inventoried.

(upbeat music) We specialize in vintage clothing, which allows our theatrical productions to be true to the time era, but it also allows students to learn about fashion and costuming based on real pieces.

(upbeat music) -[Ellen] So in this aisle, we keep things that are like anything fantastical, including a traditional mermaid skirt, and then we also have a mermaid tail made of blonde wigs.

(upbeat music) We have vintage Wesleyan, lots of vintage Wesleyan clothes, including Wesleyan Letterman jackets, and 1940s Wesleyan gymnastics uniforms.

Almost any animal you could think of.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) We keep a very impressive hoop clown hoop pants, (upbeat music) lots of dance uniforms.

We have a whole section for Christmas carol, traditional carolers costumes.

(upbeat music) We have Elvis, we have Abba.

(upbeat music) We have a firefighter, a true firefighter uniform.

We also have an astronaut.

We have modern military uniforms, as well as vintage.

We have uniforms that go back as far as World War I, lots of fatigues, we also have a lot more nice uniforms, dress blues, things like that.

We keep men and women's uniforms of all sizes.

We've got Lincoln Police department uniforms, and then at the very end of the aisle, we've got marching band uniforms.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) -[Julie] We also have items that have been donated from member of the Press Corps for Eleanor Roosevelt, (upbeat music) from Miss Nebraska from the early 1950s.

The story goes that when I met her, she had partied with Elvis.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Many of the items in the costume library were donated now used in Wesleyan performances or rented to the general public or other schools to use in productions.

It's built as the largest costume library in the Great Plains, at least that's what they've heard from folks who've seen collections in other states.

- According to them, we have probably ten times as much as any comparable institution in the area.

- [Mike] Is it fun coming down here?

- All the time, all the time.

There's always activity down here.

I think it's one of the best kept secrets of Nebraska Wesleyan.

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