"Bolling Crest" Dress Silks

On December 18, 1915, Edith Bolling Galt married President Woodrow Wilson in a ceremony at her home in Washington DC. To commemorate the wedding, the Sussex Print Works, of Newton, New Jersey created four printed dress silks, in black and white, titled “Bolling Crest.” The designs, variations on a theme of stylized swallows and ants, were based on the design of the coat of arms of the Bolling family in England. 

American Silk Journal 1915

Why black and white? Europe was then in the second year of what we now call World War I, and in March 1915 the British navy began to blockade German ports, preventing any exports of goods overseas. German firms manufactured most of the world’s dyes and colorants, so the blockade meant that textile and paper industries in the still-neutral United States suffered a serious shortage of good quality synthetic, or chemically based, dyes. “Sulfur black” was the one dye that American firms produced in quantity and of consistent quality. Fashion magazines from the period illustrate the efforts by many leading American textile and fashion manufacturers to create a fad for black and white clothing and accessories.

The Sussex Print Works began operating as a department of the Thomas W. Bentley Silk Company in 1885. Thomas Bentley was born in England, but his family moved to the US when he was 11 years old. He learned the silk business as an employee of Doherty & Wadsworth, a silk manufacturing company that had opened in Paterson, New Jersey – America’s “Silk City” – in 1879, before opening his own silk mill in 1885. The company name changed twice, to the Sterling Silk Mill and then Valentine & Bentley, before the Sussex Print Works was spun off in 1911 as an entity on its own, under the leadership of Bentley, his son, Herbert Bentley, and Harry T. Rounds. It specialized in dyeing, printing, and finishing all silk, silk and cotton, and silk and wool textiles, and was highly regarded within the industry for quality production. Valentine & Bentley became Bentley & Twohey in 1915, and continued in business as a manufacturer of silk fabrics until 1932.

Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-226) of an "ant and swallow" design derived from the Bolling family crest in England, to honor the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915.
Description
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-226) of an "ant and swallow" design derived from the Bolling family crest in England, to honor the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915. This variation has a thin black check on a white ground, with scattered larger squares, white squares containing black ants and black squares containing white birds. The use of strict black and white reflects the fact that color dyes were scarce due to the blockade of Germany by British ships during WWI. German firms were the primary holders of dye and colorant patents, , and the blockade created a critical shortage of dyestuffs in the still-neutral United States in 1915-1916. When the US entered the war in 1917, on the British side, the German dye patents were seized and turned over to American manufacturers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
referenced
Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt
maker
Sussex Print Works
ID Number
TE.T02961
accession number
59282
catalog number
T02961.000
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-227) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the Bolling family crest in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915.
Description
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-227) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the Bolling family crest in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915. This variation has widely spaced black stripes with superimposed black coin dots holding white birds, with individual ant motifs in columns between the stripes. The use of strict black and white reflects the fact that color dyes were scarce due to the blockade of Germany by British ships during WWI. German firms were the primary holders of dye and colorant patents, , and the blockade created a critical shortage of dyestuffs in the still-neutral United States in 1915-1916. When the US entered the war in 1917, on the British side, the German dye patents were seized and turned over to American manufacturers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
referenced
Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt
maker
Sussex Print Works
ID Number
TE.T02959
accession number
59282
catalog number
T02959.000
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-225) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the family crest of the Bolling family in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt.
Description
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-225) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the family crest of the Bolling family in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt. This variation has closely spaced black stripes with rows of coin dots in a half drop repeat - black ants in white circles and white birds in black circles.The use of strict black and white reflects the fact that color dyes were scarce due to the blockade of Germany by British ships during WWI. German firms were the primary holders of dye and colorant patents, , and the blockade created a critical shortage of dyestuffs in the still-neutral United States in 1915-1916. When the US entered the war in 1917, on the British side, the German dye patents were seized and turned over to American manufacturers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
referenced
Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt
maker
Sussex Print Works
ID Number
TE.T02958
accession number
59282
catalog number
T02958.000
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-222) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the Bolling family crest in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915.
Description
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-222) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the Bolling family crest in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915. This variation has a pattern of checks in black on white, with black ants in the white squares and white birds in the black squares. The use of strict black and white reflects the fact that color dyes were scarce due to the blockade of Germany by British ships during WWI. German firms were the primary holders of dye and colorant patents, , and the blockade created a critical shortage of dyestuffs in the still-neutral United States in 1915-1916. When the US entered the war in 1917, on the British side, the German dye patents were seized and turned over to American manufacturers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
referenced
Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt
maker
Sussex Print Works
ID Number
TE.T02960
accession number
59282
catalog number
T02960.000

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.