An Iowa State professor has discovered more than she ever thought she would about the history of the brassiere.

In the spring of 1994, while doing research for a paper on early medical braces marketed for back-relief problems, Jane Farrell-Beck, a professor of textiles and clothing, discovered that Frenchwoman Herminie Cadolle, traditionally credited with patenting the first brassiere in Paris in 1889, was not the first inventor of the garment.

“This is only a popular tradition. Cadolle’s brassiere may be patented in France, but it is not patented in the U.S.,” said Farrell-Beck.

Farrell-Beck has found a patent filed in 1884 by Mortimer Clarke of Washington D.C. that is similar to the sports bras sold today.

But Farrell-Beck said the brassiere goes back even further than Clarke’s invention. She has found bra-like devices patented in 1876 and in 1863.

“There are a large number of patented designs for what we call the brassiere. At the very least, these go back to 1863,” she said. “We may even find something earlier.”

The patent of the brassiere in 1876 is credited to Harriet Schandevyl and the 1863 patent is credited to a L.L. Chapman, Farrell-Beck said.

Farrell-Beck requested records from Washington D.C. of correspondence for patents from that time period to find out more information about Chapman, Clarke and Schandevyl. She said she hopes to discover whether any of these people were physicians or nurses and if their inventions had a medical slant.

“I want to find out who L.L. Chapman is. I don’t know if it is a man or a woman, but it would be nice to have this early patent credited to a woman,” she said.

Farrell-Beck is waiting to receive the information from Washington, D.C. and she has no idea how long it will take. In the meantime, she is reviewing medical literature to find out more about what doctors say about the medical and health benefits of the brassiere.

Farrell-Beck is trying to “reveal [the brassiere] as a garment initially intended to be healthful and comfortable in replacing the corset.”

Farrell-Beck will be giving a lecture, “The Brassiere: Older Than You Think,” May 5 at 2 p.m. in the Brunnier Gallery. She will talk about the general development, the health features and the changes of brassieres.