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.
2,717
Page 1 of 136
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Celluloid Comb
- Description (Brief)
- A novelty folding comb. It is cream celluloid and laminated with a pink pearlescent celluloid sheet. The pearlescent sheet is decorated with rhinestones and an Art Deco motif. It is unmarked.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1925
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1717
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1717
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Celluloid Comb
- Description (Brief)
- A celluloid novelty comb in the shape of a penguin. The penguin's head pulls out to reveal a comb made of imitation tortoiseshell. The holder is marked "France" and "Alain Saint . . ."
- Description
- This is a celluloid comb in a delightful penguin-shaped case. The “Alain / Saint-Joanis” inscription refers to a French design firm that began in business in 1876.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1930
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1719
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1719
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hair Brush with Celluloid Handle and Back
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1920-1935
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0903
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0903
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Bonnet brush
- Description
- This bonnet brush has natural bristles and a celluloid handle. The “Solid French Ivory” inscription is a pretentious term that was applied to many celluloid products from the late nineteenth until well into the twentieth century.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1910
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1444
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1444
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Jas Wallick's Bandit King
- Description
- This colored print and black and white wood engraving with blue overlay was used as a theater poster. Reading from top to bottom, the poster states, “The Sensational Event/ Jas. H. Wallick’s Bandict King / Jas. H. Wallick / Roan Charger and Bay Raider / Popular Prices.” At the center is an oval bust portrait of the actor Jas. H. Wallick. Above and below this portrait are two rectangular scenes, one showing Wallick with his two horses and the other depicting a performance of The Great Bowie Knife Fight on Horseback.
- James H. Wallick (ca 1839-1908) was born in Hurley, New York. Sources have suggested varying possibilities for his birth name, including Patrick J. Fubbins, James Henry Wheeler, or James H. Fubbins Wallick. There has also been speculation that he took the last name Wallick to link himself to the actor James William Wallack, Sr. James Wallick appeared in melodramas and circuses before achieving his best-known success in The Bandit King, a touring Wild West show based on the life of outlaw Jesse James, recast as a hero named Joe Howard. Wallick created, produced, and starred in the drama, which offered stock features of the genre like horses, buffalo, and riding and sharpshooting tricks. In addition, the shows sometimes featured Robert J. Ford, James's real-life killer. Wallick’s other productions included The Cattle King and The Mountain King. He made and lost several fortunes over the course of his career and suffered from heavy debt. He committed suicide in 1908.
- Jim Bowie (ca 1796-1836) was a Kentucky-born frontiersman, who became legendary for surviving a fierce knife duel known as the Sandbar Fight. The Bowie knife is named in his honor. He was killed fighting at the Battle of the Alamo in Texas in 1836.
- This lithograph was produced by the Great Western Printing Company.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- n.d.
- depicted
- Wallick, James H.
- maker
- Great Western Printing Company
- ID Number
- DL.60.3011
- catalog number
- 60.3011
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Was She Right?
- Description
- This black and white print with a single-color tint depicts an indoor ballroom scene is titled "Was She Right?" which was probably the title of a play. Depicted is an older woman who points and scowls at a younger woman, whose hand is being kissed by a young man kneeling at her feet, while others look on.
- This lithograph was produced by the Metropolitan Printing Company and E. Rothengatter. Emil Rothengatter (1848-1939) was a German-born artist and designer of circus posters who worked in cities including Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1896 he won a contest to design the flag of Cincinnati for a work he called “Zero of Burnet Woods.” However controversy over whether Cincinnati should have a flag delayed the design’s formal adoption until 1940. Emil Rothengatter also wrote a book entitled Art of Poster Making in the United States, published in 1911. He died in New York.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- n.d.
- maker
- Rothengatter
- Metropolitan Printing Company
- ID Number
- DL.60.3017
- catalog number
- 60.3017
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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skirt, 2-piece
- Description
- This micro-miniskirt was part of a “futuristic fashion” collection designed by Rudi Gernreich, featured in Life Magazine in 1970 and displayed at Expo ’70, a world’s fair in Osaka, Japan, although never produced and sold commercially. Gernreich, born in Austria in 1922, emigrated with to the U.S. with his mother in 1938, fleeing Nazi persecution of Jews and settling in Los Angeles. Along with his then-partner, activist Harry Hay and others, he was a founding member of the Mattachine Society, an early LGBTQ/gay rights organization, around 1950. Gernreich first worked as a dancer and in costume design in Los Angeles, eventually becoming known for avant-garde fashion designs. Many of his clothes were “unisex,” intended for men and women alike, as he sought to detach clothing from gender—designing skirts for men, pants for women—and remove the stigma of nudity. His body conscious and often minimalist designs can be interpreted as celebrations of the body and statements against sexual repression.
- Date made
- 1970
- designer
- Gernreich, Rudi
- ID Number
- 1986.0013.42
- accession number
- 1986.0013
- catalog number
- 1986.0013.42
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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The Red Shawl
- Description
- "The Red Shawl" is a soft ground color etching and aquatint by May Gearhart (1872–1951). Although she created landscape prints like her sister Frances, May Gearhart also made prints of figure subjects. "The Red Shawl" is an image inspired by one of her trips to Mexico.
- In the print, a woman shown in profile holds a small bouquet of flowers while walking along a cobblestone sidewalk next to a white building. Her layered clothing, Gearhart's skillful use of color, and the deep shadows give the impression of a cold, but sunny morning. The woman is wearing a full, plaid, violet skirt and a red shawl. Her slightly bowed head is covered by a yellow kerchief and her face is shadowed.
- Gearhart achieved a watercolor effect by thinning oil-based inks. This tiny print is very loosely rendered, a characteristic of the soft ground technique. Although the process of printmaking usually involves creating a set of identical images, Gearhart often printed in small editions, using different shades of ink for each print to produce unique impressions.
- The Gearhart sisters both taught school, and they worked closely with two brothers, Benjamin and Howell Brown, to establish and support printmaking organizations in California. The Gearharts and the Browns exhibited their prints at the Smithsonian in the 1920s, and they all made generous donations of their work.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- [1920]
- graphic artist
- Gearhart, May
- ID Number
- GA.13357
- catalog number
- 13357
- accession number
- 70154
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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One of the Fancies
- Description (Brief)
- Colored print; full length caricature of a gambler leaning on a stone post and smoking a cigar. He wears a high silk hat, long fitted coat, broad flashy tie, patterned vest, tight-fitting plaid pants, watch fob. Park setting and iron fence in background.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1846
- maker
- Sarony & Major
- publisher
- Strong, Thomas W.
- ID Number
- DL.60.2293
- catalog number
- 60.2293
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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New-Year's Present to a Bachelor
- Description
- Colored print; interior scene of man opening a large basket that contains two infants. The man wears long coat, vest, high collar, bow tie and plaid trousers. An unopened letter lies on the floor near basket. A family of four looks on gleefully through a door in background. Also in background: picture on wall of man on horseback, flowered wall paper, patterned rug.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1843
- maker
- Strong, Thomas W.
- ID Number
- DL.60.2300
- catalog number
- 60.2300
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britian
- Description (Brief)
- Colored print; profile bust of a young Queen Victoria wearing a crown of flowers in her hair and long dangling earrings.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1840
- depicted
- Victoria Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India
- maker
- Moore, Thomas
- ID Number
- DL.60.2307
- catalog number
- 60.2307
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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True Love
- Description
- Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
- These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
- This three-quarter length colored portrait print is of a seated woman gazing at a bouquet of Forget-Me-Nots which she is holds. The woman is wearing a simple dress, a band around her wrist, and a necklace with a double row of beads around her neck. The portrait is in an oval cartouche framed by flowers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- n.d.
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- DL.60.2309
- catalog number
- 60.2309
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Which of Us Will You Marry ?
- Description
- Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
- These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
- This three-quarter length hand colored print is of two young women with arms around one another. Both wear dresses with lace collars, long sleeves, tight bodices and full skirts. The woman on the left has light hair and wears a blue dress with a brooch and a double strand of beads. She holds in her right hand a rose. The woman on the right has much darker hair. She wears a red dress and a crown of flowers in her hair.
- This print was produced by James S Baillie, who was active in New York from 1838 to 1855. James Baillie started as a framer in 1838, and then became an artist and lithographer in 1843 or 1844. He discovered how to color lithographs while working as an independent contractor for Currier & Ives in the mid 1840’s. A prolific lithographer and colorist for Currier & Ives, his prints were extremely popular with a wide distribution. J. Baillie spent his later years concentrating on painting instead of lithography.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1849
- maker
- Baillie, James S.
- ID Number
- DL.60.2310
- catalog number
- 60.2310
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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The Star of My Pathway
- Description
- Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
- These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
- This three-quarter length hand colored print is of young woman apparently floating in space. She holds a red shawl in both hands, which is billowing behind and above her head. She is wearing a simple long sleeved green dress and above her head is a glowing six-pointed star.
- This lithograph was published by the D.W. Kellogg & Co and Willis Thrall (1800-1884). Willis Thrall was born in Connecticut and died in Hartford, Ct. He was a publisher of maps, prints and engravings. He published many early D.W. Kellogg lithographs in Hartford in the 1830’s. He left the publishing business to become a rule and hardware manufacturer and owned a hardware manufacturing firm with his son, Edward B. Thrall, called Willis Thrall & Sons.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1833-1852
- publisher
- Thrall, Willis
- lithographer
- D.W. Kellogg and Company
- ID Number
- DL.60.2316
- catalog number
- 60.2316
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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The Bride and Bride's-Maid
- Description
- Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
- These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
- This three-quarter colored print is of a bride seated. The bridesmaid stands behind her adjusting her pink veil. Each woman wears a bracelet and necklace, and the bride wears one glove.
- This print was produced by the lithographic firm of D.W. Kellogg & Co. Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807-1874) founded the company in 1830 Hartford, Connecticut. Before the opening of its first retail store in 1834, D.W. Kellogg & Co. lithography firm was well established and popular in United States, particularly in the South and the Southwest. As the founding member of the family company, Daniel Wright Kellogg established the initial growth and popularity of the firm. After he left the company it continued to flourish for decades under his younger brothers and other family members.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1833-1842
- maker
- D.W. Kellogg and Company
- ID Number
- DL.60.2317
- catalog number
- 60.2317
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Old Dog Tray
- Description
- Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
- These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
- This hand colored print is a three-quarter length view of a young girl putting eyeglasses on a dog. The little girl is wearing a straw hat with flowers and ribbons and wearing a beaded necklace. The collar and cuffs of the red dress have eyelet trim. In the background is an elaborate frame and drapes.
- Kellogg & Bulkeley was the lithography firm formed from the partnership between Elijah Chapman Kellogg, Edmund Burke Kellogg, William Henry Bulkeley and Frank Bulkeley. The firm was formed in 1867, and shortly after both Elijah Chapman Kellogg and his brother Edmund Burke Chapman retired. After their retirement the only Kellogg remaining in the business was Edmund’s son Charles Kellogg. By1871 the partnership between the Kellogg family and Bulkeley had been reorganized as an incorporated stock company with the word “Company” added to the firm’s name. The company came to an end when it merged with Case, Lockwood & Brainard to become Connecticut Printers in 1947. Connecticut Printers remained open until 1990 when the Kellogg lithography firm finally ended after 160 years.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1860
- lithographer
- Kellogg & Bulkeley
- ID Number
- DL.60.2321
- catalog number
- 60.2321
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Kiss Mama
- Description
- Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
- These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
- This colored print is of a mother and two young children in a sylvan setting. The mother is seated with the younger child sleeping with its head on the mother’s lap. Another child kisses the mother from behind. All are in simple dress; the mother wears a wide lace collar and large sleeves.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- n.d.
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- DL.60.2324
- catalog number
- 60.2324
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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The Man - Monster
- Description (Brief)
- Black and white print; full length portrait of a young man dressed as a woman, as indicated by the caption (see inscriptions). He wears a long patterned dress with full sleeves, carries a purse and a sachet, and wears long drop earrings.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1836
- depicted
- Sewally, Peter
- maker
- Robinson, Henry R.
- ID Number
- DL.60.2363
- catalog number
- 60.2363
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Bloomerism in Practice
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca. 1851
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- DL.60.2364
- catalog number
- 60.2364
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Chrononomy
- Description (Brief)
- Black and white print of two women on either side of a large scroll. One is seated holding a book entitled Phrenonomy;the other woman is standing. The scroll details an elaborate scheme for finding the day of the week for any date as well as finding the day of the month. The two women are presumably Rosette R. and Emma E. Pike, who held the copyright.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1847
- copyright holder; depicted
- Pike, Rosetta R.
- Pike, Emma E.
- maker
- Sarony & Major
- ID Number
- DL.60.2365
- catalog number
- 60.2365
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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