O'Neil Sisters Dressed Up in their Homemade Matching Clothes for Easter in 1952

During the 1940s and 1950s, one of the most unforgettable images of Boston was the O’Neil sisters promenading up Commonwealth Avenue mall in matching dresses, bonnets, and corsages.

It is a centuries-old tradition to wear new clothes on Easter to honor the resurrection of Christ. To honor that tradition, the O’Neils collaborated with their family members, who ranged in age from 3 to 19. Mrs O’Neil sewed, the biggest girls ironed, the middle-sized girls attached buttons, and the smallest girls retrieved dropped thimbles.

The ten O’Neil sisters wore matching outfits and performed in Easter parades. LIFE photographer Nina Leen documented the 1952 burst of outfit-making in preparation for the O’Neils’ appearance on an Easter television special.

#1 Mrs. O’Neil pinned up hems on all ten of her daughters’ dresses in preparation for Easter, 1952.

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#2 The O’Neil girls’ hats and gloves were inspected by the youngest sisters in preparation for Easter, 1952.

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#3 One of the sisters, Jane, ironed a skirt while her mother and sisters worked another suit in preparation for Easter, 1952.

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#4 Cutting cloth for the Easter suits, Mrs. Daniel O’Neil and her daughters working from a paper McCall’s pattern, 1952.

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#5 The O’Neil family readied for Easter, 1952.

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#6 A little O’Neil admiring her four big sisters in their new Easter finery, 1952.

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#7 The O’Neil family readied for Easter, 1952.

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#8 Daniel O’Neil with one of his ten daughters in a new Easter outfit, April 1952.

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#9 The O’Neil family modelled their new Easter wear, April 1952.

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