Clothing & Accessories

Work, play, fashion, economic class, religious faith, even politics—all these aspects of American life and more are woven into clothing. The Museum cares for one of the nation's foremost collections of men's, women's, and children's garments and accessories—from wedding gowns and military uniforms to Halloween costumes and bathing suits.

The collections include work uniforms, academic gowns, clothing of presidents and first ladies, T-shirts bearing protest slogans, and a clean-room "bunny suit" from a manufacturer of computer microchips. Beyond garments, the collections encompass jewelry, handbags, hair dryers, dress forms, hatboxes, suitcases, salesmen's samples, and thousands of fashion prints, photographs, and original illustrations. The more than 30,000 artifacts here represent the changing appearance of Americans from the 1700s to the present day.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book.
Description
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold downriver by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action.
Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
The most popular depictions of Uncle Tom were those in which he was accompanied by the young white girl, Eva St. Clare. Representations of their companionship conveyed a message of racial bonding and celebrated the characters’ shared Christian faith. While riding aboard a Mississippi riverboat on his journey to be sold downriver, Tom would occupy his time sitting among cotton bales and reading from his Bible. After he introduces himself to the saintly Eva, the young girl decides to ask her father to buy Tom. This print, illustrating a scene from Chapter 14 of the novel, depicts the pair’s first meeting. Tom has one hand placed on his Bible, while his other, enchained by a manacle, motions towards Eva. With his confident pose and flowing robes, Tom looks more like a classical philosopher than a slave learning to read. Eva, reclining on a bale of cotton, appear almost doll-like. After Tom rescues Eva from her fall overboard into the waters of the Mississippi, her father agrees to buy him.
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was published around 1853 as the second in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1853
originator of scene
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2374
catalog number
60.2374
accession number
228146
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism.
Description
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism. Part of series of miscegenation prints done by Clay during 1839, the print depicts a dance in an elegantly furnished ballroom. In the middle of the scene, fashionably dressed, interracial couples are shown dancing. Each consists of a black man and white woman. Along the right wall, several black men ask seated white women to dance. On the left, members of a mixed race couple clasp hands and prepare to kiss. Above these proceedings, music is performed by an orchestra composed solely of white musicians.
Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail.
The work’s publisher, John Childs, was a New York lithographer, artist, and print colorist active between the years 1836 to 1844. For a brief period, he published a quantity of political cartoons, especially in 1840, when he published 34, of which 26 were drawn by Clay.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1839
maker
Childs, John
artist
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.3340
catalog number
60.3340
This anti-English political cartoon highlights Northern concerns that Great Britain would abandon its anti-slavery values and instead give support to the Confederacy out of economic interests.
Description
This anti-English political cartoon highlights Northern concerns that Great Britain would abandon its anti-slavery values and instead give support to the Confederacy out of economic interests. In 1862 and 1863, the Northern blockade of the South resulted in a cotton shortage in England, and the textile industry there suffered. In the print, John Bull, the figural representation of Great Britain holds a clump of cotton that he had grasped from a bale. He remarks, “Well yes! it is certain that cotton is more useful to me than wool!!” as he strokes the hair, or “wool,” on the head of a slave kneeling at his feet. Two other black man stand in the back left and proceed to cry. In the back right, a goateed Southern man with a straw hat watches the scene with a joyful look upon his face. Despite Northern anxieties and Southern hopes, Great Britain had little interest in embroiling itself in the American war and maintained a policy of neutrality.
Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888) was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and after serving an apprenticeship in Boston, he moved to New York City in 1834. In New York, he briefly partnered with Adam Stodart, but their firm dissolved within a year, and Currier went into business on his own until 1857. James M. Ives (1824-1895) was a native New York lithographer who was hired as a bookkeeper by Currier in 1852. In 1857, the two men partnered, forming the famous lithography firm of Currier and Ives, which continued under their sons until 1907.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
date made
1861-1863
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3368
catalog number
60.3368
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1837
maker
Robinson, Henry R.
artist
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.2289
catalog number
60.2289
accession number
228146
This hand-colored print depicts a highly fictionalized account of a Republican campaign event dance that occurred at the Lincoln Central Campaign Club in New York Sept. 22, 1864. This was the second anniversary of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
Description
This hand-colored print depicts a highly fictionalized account of a Republican campaign event dance that occurred at the Lincoln Central Campaign Club in New York Sept. 22, 1864. This was the second anniversary of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The caption at the bottom of the work swears that the event is accurately portrayed in the above illustration, and certifys " there were many of the accredited leaders of the Black Republican party. These high level Republican leaders, all "prominent men," are shown vigorously dancing, conversing, and fraternizing with fashionably dressed black women. Presumably the men peering in from the roof skylights are the reporters from the anti-Lincoln New York World. No white women are present in the scene and Lincoln supporters seated on the sides of the room are seen kissing and scandalously embracing black women. Northern Democrats opposed abolition by playing upon fears of widespread miscegenation, or racial mixing, that they argued would inevitably occur if Lincoln were re-elected to a second term which resulted in this propaganda print. A campaign banner reading, “Universal Freedom / One Constitution / One Destiny / Abraham Lincoln Pre..st” hangs above the proceedings. This banner and portrait of Lincoln on the wall suggested to viewers that his re-election and racial mixing went hand-in-hand.
The series of prints critical of potential miscegenation were initially published in a New York daily newspaper, The World. When the paper was established in 1860, it was religiously orientated, and supported Lincoln’s policies. After losing money, however, it was sold to a group of New York City Democrats, who openly attacked Lincoln after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Known for printing falsified information and accounts, the paper was temporarily shut down in 1864 and it's editor Manton Marble arrested after publishing a report that Lincoln planned to draft 500,000 to 400,000 more men for the Union armies through a forged presidential order
The print was the fourth, last, and largest in a series of anti-Lincoln prints by New York lithographers Kimmel & Forster, published by Bromley & Company. Christopher Kimmel was born in Germany around 1850 and after immigrating to the United States, was active in New York City from 1850 to 1876. He was part of Capewell & Kimmel from 1853 to 1860, and then partnered with Thomas Forster in 1865, forming the lithography firm of Kimmel & Forster, which was active until 1871. Although this print offers a harsh criticism of Lincoln, it was most likely produced as a commission, since the firm produced several prints and a series celebrating the President after his death.
The signature in the lower right corner of the illustration reveals that this scene was imagined by the artist Henry Atwell Thomas (1834-1904), who specialized in lithography of the American theatre, which accounts for the work’s dramatic imagery. In the lower left corner, the print includes an advertisement for publisher, copyright holder, and distributer, G.W. Bromley & Co.. Black and white copies were sold through the mail for 25 cents and hand colored copies cost 34 cents. Copies could be purchased at discount prices if purchasing multiples of 5, 50, or 100.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1864
copyright holder; distributor
Bromley & Co.
maker
Kimmel and Forster
artist
Thomas, Henry Atwell
ID Number
DL.60.3341
catalog number
60.3341
This 1852 satirical print employs 19th century skepticism surrounding mesmerism, or animal magnetism, an early form of hypnosis, to attack women abolitionists and miscegenation – interracial coupling.
Description
This 1852 satirical print employs 19th century skepticism surrounding mesmerism, or animal magnetism, an early form of hypnosis, to attack women abolitionists and miscegenation – interracial coupling. A seated female abolitionist is mesmerized by the black Professor Pompey figure, who touches her breast and face, asking how she feels. Her answer reveals that she has begun to fall under his sexual control during the exercise: “Oh, I seem to be carried away into a dark wood where I inhale a perfume much like that of a skunk.” This print uses her dream to propose that whites should naturally find black people repugnant, yet the women abolitionists do not. The piece therefore presents a satirical depiction of women belonging to the abolitionist cause, suggesting their true motive to be interracial mixing. Other formally dressed black characters offer sexually suggestive commentary. A white minister standing behind Professor Pompey laments, “These are the days foretold by the prophet.” This is most likely an allusion to Acts 2:16-17: “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” This Biblical passage not only speaks directly to the activity of mesmerism, but its reference to “the last days” mockingly adds apocalyptic undertones to the print and the prospect of abolition.
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1852
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2290
catalog number
60.2290
accession number
228146
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the abolition and anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism.
Description
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the abolition and anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism. Part of series of miscegenation prints done by Clay during 1839, the print depicts a formal dinner party during which the black host of the party addresses his guests - six interracial couples who are seated on either side of the table. The host’s white wife sits across from him. Above the host’s head hang portraits of himself and his wife, and to the far right, one of their multiracial children. From the head of the table, the host toasts “De Union ob colors,” which “gibs a wholesome odour to fashionable siety.” Meanwhile, six white servants attend to the guests and serve drinks.
Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail.
The work’s publisher, John Childs, was a New York lithographer, artist, and print colorist active between the years 1836 to 1844. For a brief period, he published a quantity of political cartoons, especially in 1840, when he published 34, of which 26 were drawn by Clay.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1839
maker
Childs, John
artist
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.3337
catalog number
60.3337
Black and white print of a black man and woman who carry burlap bags of trash? lean across a trash barrel to kiss. Their clothes are in tatters. Two little boys observe from a doorway. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a black man and woman who carry burlap bags of trash? lean across a trash barrel to kiss. Their clothes are in tatters. Two little boys observe from a doorway. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1875
maker
Vance, Parsloe and Company
ID Number
DL.60.3437
catalog number
60.3437
Black and white print of five men (Martin and John Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Louis Cass, and Edwin Croswell) and the "Goddess of Liberty" (with her Liberty cap on a pole) standing around a coffin in graveyard eulogising Silas Wright.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of five men (Martin and John Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Louis Cass, and Edwin Croswell) and the "Goddess of Liberty" (with her Liberty cap on a pole) standing around a coffin in graveyard eulogising Silas Wright. Martin Van Buren is leaning on a tombstone incribed dates and with his name as well as that of Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson. In the middle of the scene is a large sow with head of a black woman labeled "Federal Pap" and four piglets with human heads identified below the image as "Propaganda, Corning {Erastus Corning}, Dickinson {Daniel S. Dickinson}, and Foster {Henry A. Foster.}" The last three were all prominent Hunkers and in the dialog they are planning the defeat of Wright and Van Buren. In the background is a wolf. Additional dialog and phrases appear on the print. While the print is untitled, below the image is a three line quotation from an antislavery speech given by Daniel Washburn in Utica, New York on June 22, 1848 following the nomination of Lewis M. Cass by the Democratic National Canvention in Baltimore on May 22.
This print is in reference to the Election of 1848. Prior to the election, prominent Democratic politician, Silas Wright, who was thought to be a prime candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, unexpectedly passed away after losing his bid for reelection in the New York gubernatorial election. In this print, five men, Martin and John Van Buren, Zachery Taylor, Louis, Cass, and Edwin Caswell, and the “Goddess of Liberty” (with her liberty cap on a pole) are standing around Wright’s coffin eulogizing him. . Martin Van Buren is leaning on a tombstone inscribed dates and with his name as well as that of Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson. In the middle of the scene is a large sow with head of a black woman labeled "Federal Pap," and four piglets with human heads identified below the image as "Corning {Erastus Corning}, Dickinson {Daniel S. Dickinson}, and Foster {Henry A. Foster.}" Those men were all prominent Hunkers, and in the dialog they speak to how they plan to defeat Wright and Van Buren. Wright was part of the radical Barnburner faction of the Democratic Party, and his loss of the governorship was attributed to the lack of support amongst the conservative Hunker faction of the party. While the print is untitled, below the image is a three line quotation from an antislavery speech given by Daniel Washburn in Utica, New York on June 22, 1848 following the nomination of Lewis M. Cass at the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore.
The artist of this print is Peter Smith, who according to Harry T. Peters, is most likely a pseudonym for Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888). Currier was a well-known lithographer and one half of the iconic printmaking firm, Currier and Ives that operated in New York City from 1835 to 1907. This firm was very successful, and known for their cheap and colorful prints that were easily accessible to common people Currier likely used this pseudonym to publish his opinionated political prints to distance them from his business and guarantee that profits would not be impacted by his political stance.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1848
depicted
Van Buren, Martin
Taylor, Zachary
Van Buren, John
Cass, Lewis
Croswell, Edwin
depicted (in caricature)
Corning, Erastus
Dickinson, Daniel Stevens
Foster, Henry A.
maker
Smith, Peter
ID Number
DL.60.3354
catalog number
60.3354
This white infant’s dress with short raglan sleeves was made by African American dressmaker Elizabeth Keckley for her goddaughter Alberta Elizabeth Lewis-Savoy in 1866. The neckline has two rows of casing with a narrow gathering ribbon.
Description
This white infant’s dress with short raglan sleeves was made by African American dressmaker Elizabeth Keckley for her goddaughter Alberta Elizabeth Lewis-Savoy in 1866. The neckline has two rows of casing with a narrow gathering ribbon. The center back opens with ribbon ties and a placket. The back waist is detailed with four rows of gathering ribbon and the front waistband is covered with lace, which is partially stitched down. A full skirt with twenty pleats is gathered to the waistband. Handmade Bucks point bobbin lace trims the sleeves and hem.
date made
1866
wearer
Lewis, Alberta Elizabeth
maker
Keckley, Elizabeth
ID Number
1983.0853.01
accession number
1983.0853
catalog number
1983.0853.01
The cap is has a stiff crown and flat circular top with a short visor. A black braid stretches across the visor and is attached to the hat by buttons on each side of the hat.
Description
The cap is has a stiff crown and flat circular top with a short visor. A black braid stretches across the visor and is attached to the hat by buttons on each side of the hat. It has a badge on the front with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad logo, L&N and the words TRIAN PORTER. On each side is a button with the initials L&N.
This particular porter's cap was owned by Mr. Henry Taylor, a porter for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad from the 1940s through the 1960s. Mr. Taylor worked aboard the L&N Railroad's coaches on overnight trains, assisting passengers. Sleeping cars assigned to L&N overnight trains were operated by Pullman, and so the porters on those cars worked for Pullman, not for the Louisvile and Nashville Railroad.
Location
Currently not on view
associated institution
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
maker
Becker Tailoring Co.
ID Number
1985.0552.01
accession number
1985.0552
catalog number
1985.0552.01
85.0552.01
This dashiki, a garment with West African origins and associations, was made and worn by Fath Davis Ruffins.
Description
This dashiki, a garment with West African origins and associations, was made and worn by Fath Davis Ruffins. Born in 1954 in Washington, DC and raised in the city, Ruffins was educated at Radcliffe (BA) and Harvard for doctoral work and has been a curator the National Museum of American History since 1981. She made the garment herself in 1970 when she was 16. Derived from a Yoruba word, a dashiki is a loose-fitting, colorful tunic that was initially worn chiefly by men in West Africa but adopted in the U.S. by men and women alike, worn with either pants, a skirt, or matching headwrap (headwrap is not pictured here). During the late 1960s dashikis became popular in the United States because of young people who wanted to signal their connection with African cultures, Pan-African and Black Power movements.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1970
ID Number
1984.0826.02
accession number
1984.0826
catalog number
1984.0826.02
This cap, ca. the 1950s, is characteristic of such caps seen at railroad stations throughout North America from the 1920s till about the 1980s.
Description
This cap, ca. the 1950s, is characteristic of such caps seen at railroad stations throughout North America from the 1920s till about the 1980s. The cloth appears to be silk, which gives a sheen to the cap's fabric; silk was not unusual for red caps.
This cap was used by an employee of the Canadian National Railway, a fact that in no way detracts from the cap's relevance to U.S. railroad history or to African American history. U.S. and Canadian railroads in fact have operated as a seamless, interchangeable rail network from the late 1890s to the present day, and the Canadian National, in particular, historically owned rail lines operating in Michigan. The Canadian Pacific Railway historically owned lines across Maine. Employment conditions for "red caps" at Canadian terminals were identical to such conditions at U.S. depots.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
TR.335443
catalog number
335443
accession number
321737
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0022
catalog number
2017.0306.0022
accession number
2017.0306
Currently on loan
Location
Currently on loan
date used
2017
ID Number
2020.0060.01
accession number
2020.0060
catalog number
2020.0060.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1984
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0093
catalog number
2017.0306.0093
accession number
2017.0306
Currently on loan
Location
Currently on loan
date worn
2017
ID Number
2020.0060.02
accession number
2020.0060
catalog number
2020.0060.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1984
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0032
accession number
2017.0306
catalog number
2017.0306.0032
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
ID Number
1990.0605.38
catalog number
1990.0605.38
accession number
1990.0605
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
ID Number
1990.0605.11
catalog number
1990.0605.11
accession number
1990.0605
This headwrap dating between 1972 and 1984 was worn by Fath Davis Ruffins, an African American woman in Washington, DC.
Description
This headwrap dating between 1972 and 1984 was worn by Fath Davis Ruffins, an African American woman in Washington, DC. Ruffins bought the fabric for this headwrap and matching dress, which is also in the Smithsonian collections, at an African shop on Georgia Avenue in Washington, DC. It was made in 1972 but was worn as part of a summer "dress-up" outfit through 1984. Elaborately tied headwraps were worn by young African American women during this period to acknowledge their West African ancestral roots.
The flat cotton rectangular panel is a large floral "Java Print" in three shades of green with yellow accents on a cream background with a dark green with yellow floral design border. The forty-six inch long rectangle is narrower on one short side (twenty inches) than the other (inches) with stitched edges. "Guaranteed Dutch Java Print" is stamped on the selvage.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1972-1984
used by
Ruffins, Fath Davis
maker
Ruffins, Fath Davis
ID Number
1992.0456.001
accession number
1992.0456
catalog number
1992.0456.001
Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wore this cloth hat during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.Currently not on view
Description
Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wore this cloth hat during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
before 1963
user
Wilkins, Roy
referenced
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
ID Number
1980.0668.102
accession number
1980.0668
catalog number
1980.0668.102

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