White dresses were popular garb for both boy and girl infants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Canada. This particular dress is believed to have been a christening gown worn by several members of the Ruttan/McLean family of Pittsburg Township. The donors great-aunt, Anna Marks Ruttan, was a known shirt-maker, and may have made the dress. The donor’s maternal grandfather, Daniel McLean, owned three farms to the west of Joyceville Road, the houses for which still exist today.