(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. (upbeat music)