Vested interest

By David Maurer

Published: February 9, 2008

A single glance at the beautifully embroidered vest can add a new dimension to one's mental image of President James Monroe.

Colleen Callahan prepares historical clothing
for an exhibit at Ash Lawn-Highland on Jan. 31, 2008. (The Daily Progress/Megan Lovett)

It's certainly not a garment that would have been worn by a staid, tinder-dry politician. The background of silk taffeta and the side panels that sport floral motif embroidery would have met the sartorial standards of a riverboat gambler.

On a recent afternoon, the fifth U.S. president's eye-catching vest was spread out on a sewing table in a conference room at his Albemarle County home - Ash Lawn-Highland. The garment's provenance dates to 1803, when he was in Paris helping negotiate the Louisiana Purchase.

The vest was being "stabilized" in order to be presented in the latest Ash Lawn-Highland exhibit, "Dressed for the Occasion: An Exhibit of Costumes in the Age of Monroe and the New Republic." The exhibit will be on display through July 8.

Colleen Callahan laughed when she heard an observer remark that he hadn't been aware that President Monroe was such a dandy. As the co-owner of the Richmond company Costume and Textile Specialists, she is

used to hearing such remarks.

As a professional textile conservationist, Callahan repairs and preserves historic clothing for museums and private collections. She spent several days at Monroe's home recently preparing the historic clothing that's now on exhibit.

"This was very typical of the day," Callahan said in reference to the colorful vest. "Men were a lot flashier dressers back then.

"This would have been the kind of vest that would have been worn at court. During that period, you would have purchased the embroidered fabric and then your tailor would have added the back and fit it to you.

"The only Monroe item in the exhibit is the vest. But all the clothing on display comes from the period of the early 1800s and is like what would have been worn by Monroe or members of his family."

The exhibit consists of 11 pieces of clothing ranging from formal women's dresses to children's clothing and garments worn by men during that era. All the items date to before 1825 and most are on loan from the Mary Doering collection of historic clothing. The vest is part of the Ash Lawn-Highland collection.

Doering, who makes her home in Northern Virginia, became interested in historic clothing while in high school. When she inherited a small collection of mostly 19th-century clothing, she quickly became fascinated by the pieces.

The quality of the fabric, and the exquisite craftsmanship that went into creating the garments, inspired Doering to learn more. Before long she was actively searching for more examples of antique clothing to add to her collection.

Doering has collected more than 500 items, primarily of the 18th- and 19th-century clothing, over the past 30 years.

She presented her first exhibit of 18th-century clothing at the University of Virginia in 1978. Since then items in her collection have been exhibited at such well-known venues as the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, the John Marshall House in Richmond and the DAR Museum in Washington.

Items of clothing that had once belonged to famous people often are saved solely because of the connection to the person. Pieces of clothing with no particular pedigree or association to set them apart have to have other things going for them.

"Some things are saved because they have special meaning for the person," said Callahan, who cared for and managed the extensive historic clothing collection at the Valentine Museum in Richmond for 18 years and now serves as its curator emeritus of costumes and textiles.

"Obviously, things like wedding dresses and baptismal clothing would be examples of this. Other things often are saved simply because they get lucky.

"Somehow they got into a trunk and nobody got them out for dress-up or whatever, and they lived on. Light and sunlight are among the most detrimental things for clothing, along with fluctuations in temperature and humidity and, of course, bugs."

Callahan pointed out that trunks made of wood can be harmful to clothing because of the acidity of wood. She suggests that if clothing is being stored in this manner that it be wrapped up in an old sheet so the wood doesn't touch it directly.

"It constantly amazes me when I'm working with historic clothing that they did survive as well as they did," Callahan said. "Another thing that you find damaging to them is that people not of the time period wear them.

"They wear it for dress-up, and they're not careful. People were a lot more careful with their clothing in earlier periods, because fabric, for one thing, was one of the most valuable commodities.

"This was especially true before the Industrial Revolution, because, prior to that, it was all woven by hand. My suggestion is that people keep their precious heirloom clothing in a box in the closet and check on it every now and then. Plastic bags that come from the dry cleaners are very unstable and shouldn't be used to store clothing you want to preserve."

Callahan believes few things can provide better connections to the past than clothing. She said the Monroe vest can evoke an emotional connection that a piece of his furniture couldn't.

Linda Arnette had the privilege of doing some of the stabilizing work on the vest. She received much of her training in textile conservation from Callahan when she was working at the Valentine.

Arnette volunteered several days of her time to help her former teacher get the new exhibit ready. Every stitch she made on the garment was done with surgical care.

Such work calls for great patience and a thorough mastery of seamstress skills.

"The fabric is very fragile because of its age," Arnette said as she paused briefly in her work. "If I wasn't extremely careful it would just fall apart.

"But I love doing this kind of work, and I feel it's a real honor. It makes me feel as if I'm almost touching him [Monroe].

"By doing this I feel as if I've become a part of his life in some way. And when I'm finished and everything looks nice and pretty, it's something I can take pride in having done."

All the work on the vest is documented and becomes a part of its history. Callahan said in the future this information could be particularly valuable if new methods of preservation are discovered.

The pieces of clothing in the new exhibit are on display throughout the house. In the drawing room are two exquisite examples of elaborate evening gowns.

A Chinese ivory silk dress with silk Spencer jacket dating from about 1810 is one example. Nearby is a French purple silk brocade evening dress from about 1815.

The exhibit also features a women's shortgown, which was a comfortable informal garment worn about the house. The cotton dress is more than 200 years old and features hand-applied indigo.

A man's black wool coat, printed cotton waistcoat and cotton shirt from the early 19th century provide examples of what the well-dressed male of the era would have been wearing. Also on display are undergarments worn during the period.

Pieces of clothing that would have been worn by children during the period tell their own silent stories. A toddler's white dimity dress from about 1810 could have been worn by either sex.

"The children's clothing can tell us things about gender roles back then," Callahan said. "One of the big shocks to the grade-schoolers who would come to the Valentine was that young boys wore dresses up until the early 20th century.

"Young boys and girls were dressed alike in what we consider feminine clothing. Today they dress alike in what is essentially masculine clothing. It's a complicated story in terms of why little boys wore dresses, but basically it was because they were children.

"Back then boys gradually earned their maleness and that was reflected through their clothing. They would wear dresses until they were around the age of 4 or 5 and would be quote, 'breeched,' and put into trousers, which was a big deal."

This past year, Callahan had the honor of mounting two garments worn by President Ulysses S. Grant for the Virginia Historical Society. She and her partner, Newbie Richardson, are involved in doing conservation work for the James Monroe Museum in Fredericksburg.

"The James Monroe Museum has about 25 pieces of clothing that either belonged to the former president or his immediate family," Callahan said. "My partner and I are doing conservation work on the pieces.

"It's a Save America's Treasures project, and it will continue during the next three years. We're working on a dress right now that belonged to [Monroe's wife] Elizabeth Monroe.

"It's certainly an honor to be asked to do work like this, but the expertise needed to do it is not that common. Larger museums and institutions that have historical clothing collections usually have people on staff who do this type work.

"Setting up a clothing exhibit like this is very different than hanging a picture. Essentially what I'm doing is creating three-dimensional sculptures of the clothing, and each piece is going to be different."

Because of the repair work that needed to be done on the Monroe vest, it's the last piece to go on display. It will be placed in a glass display case in the entrance hall of the home.

Carolyn C. Holmes, executive director of Ash Lawn-Highland, said she and others have already noticed a change in the atmosphere of the house.

"Of course, the house is furnished, but now with the exhibit in place it feels as if it's occupied," Holmes said. "It's a spontaneous reaction that both we and some of our early visitors are experiencing.

"It is phenomenal that Mary Doering is so generous to share with us part of a collection she has been putting together for most of her life. Some of the pieces have also come from other well known private collectors, such as Cora Ginsburg and Tasha Tudor.

"The exhibit provides a wonderful opportunity to get a real feel for how life was during the first quarter of the 19th century. I think it's very timely that it's opening right now, because this is Fashion Week in New York.

"So we're having our own Fashion Week right here at Ash Lawn-Highland."

The exhibit "Dressed for the Occasion: An Exhibit of Costumes in the age of Monroe and the New Republic" will be on display at Ash Lawn-Highland through July 8. For more information visit Web site www. ashlawnhighland.org.